She re-read the note.

To act as his spy! This was a joke, and she would teach Mr Hervey a lesson.

Should she show the letter to the Prince? It might not be a bad idea when she had prepared him. But the impertinence of Lord Fanny!

In her apartments she was preparing herself to receive the Prince. He came without ceremony, for that was how he liked it. They had a great deal of fun together, riding out in the streets in hack Sedans, being carried side by side and pretending to be on the fringe of the Court. It was much more gratifying to be the Prince’s mistress than any other man’s at Court—not excepting the King. Ugh! Fancy being George’s mistress. Not much fun in that. Poor Henrietta Howard, who had held the post for so long and got all the scandal with none of the glory!

Oh, yes, it was very different to be the beloved of the Prince of Wales.

There was a little trouble looming in the not very distant future. She was certain now, but this of course wasn’t the time to mention it. However, she had made up her mind that the infant was going to be the son ... or daughter ... of a Prince. Neither Harrington nor Hervey were good enough to be named as the father of her child.

She was setting a tiny black patch close to her eyes when the Prince entered. She leaped from her stool and embraced him.

‘My Prince!’

He was delighted with her. A simple young man really; and she had had such experience of young men, so she knew exactly how to treat him.

Later when they lay side by side in her bed she talked of Hervey.

‘I have a confession to make. I feel that I can no longer keep this to myself. You mean so much to me that I can’t bear to have a secret from you. You are not my first lover.’

Even inexperienced Frederick had not thought this for one moment. He told her that everything that had gone before in their lives was nothing. The past was over; it was only the present and the future which mattered.

‘I was seduced by a man of whom I believe you have rather a high opinion. That is what has made it so difficult for me to tell you.’

‘You should not disturb yourself, dear Anne.’

‘But I do, my Prince. I think only of you. And I must tell you what is in my mind. I must warn you ...’

‘Warn me?’

‘Yes, because this man who pretends to be your friend is only using you.’

‘Using me!’

‘He hopes to. But I shall not allow it. Let me explain. I was seduced by Lord Hervey.’

The Prince coloured slightly. He was quite clearly devoted to the man. He said: ‘Well ... you are very pretty, Anne, so I suppose we must try to understand....’

‘That is not all. He cared for me no more than he cares for you. He merely wanted to use me. He wants me to act as his spy.’

‘On whom would you spy? What can you know of the Court more than he does?’

‘My dearest, this is hard to say. But he wants me to spy on you. He wants me to lead you the way he wants you to go.

‘But he is my friend. He can talk to me himself.’

She rose from the bed and put a flimsy robe over her naked body. She looked frail and very provocative. Opening a drawer she drew out a letter and began to read it to him.

He could not believe that Hervey had written so about him.

But she insisted on his reading it himself.

Then she snatched it from him and tore it into bits. She flung it up so that it was scattered over the bed; then she threw herself upon him.

‘Does he think I should ever be disloyal to my dearest Prince? Never ... never ... never!’

The Prince was overcome by such devotion, and at the moment could think of nothing but making love.

But later he began to brood on Hervey’s duplicity.


* * *

In the next few weeks the main point of discussion between Anne and Frederick was Lord Hervey, and Frederick was beginning to believe that he had been very mistaken in the man he had made his friend.

Hervey continued to write to him amusing doggerel which always made him laugh because it was directed against members of the Court. When Anne saw one of these she said: ‘It’s very funny, but I wonder how he writes about you to others!’ And that made Frederick stop to think.

All the same, as soon as he received a note from Hervey he would begin to feel the old fascination and Anne was aware of this.

Frederick needed a friend of his own sex to replace Hervey and she knew the very man.

George Bubb Dodington was one of the richest young men at Court; he was not really of very good family and would be very grateful to her if she introduced him to the Prince of Wales.

His real name was Bubb, his father being Jeremiah Bubb who had been an Irish apothecary on the look-out for a fortune, when he had discovered the daughter of George Dodington, a member of a rich and ancient family of Somerset. George Bubb was sent to Oxford and in time became Member of Parliament for Winchelsea. He added Dodington to his name and called attention to himself by his lavish spending, mostly on houses. His country mansion in Dorset, said to be as magnificent as a Palace, had been designed by Vanbrugh and contained a James Thornhill ceiling. He had also acquired two houses near London, one at Hammersmith and another in Pall Mall. He had the means at his disposal to entertain a Prince.

He was not without wit; he wielded some influence; but the nobility were inclined to despise him. It was for this reason that Anne Vane selected him to take the place with the Prince which had been Lord Hervey’s, for he was just the man Hervey would despise most, and to be replaced by him would be an additional insult.

Frederick liked George Bubb Dodington as soon as he met him in Anne’s apartments. He called him affectionately Bubb and proceeded to win money from him. Bubb seemed to be delighted to lose to the Prince; money spent in this way seemed a good investment; and as the Prince was always short of it this seemed a basis on which to build the friendship between them.

Frederick was entertained at the Hammersmith villa and was deeply impressed by the magnificence of it. Bubb, large, fleshy, vulgar, not without wit, and humble to his Prince, was the right antidote to languid Hervey.

On his first visit to La Trappe, Bubb made sure that the occasion should be impressive. He himself greeted the Prince and led him up the marble staircase to the marble and lapis lazuli gallery, and presented to His Royal Highness Mrs Behan his mistress who was as sumptuously gowned in rich brocade and jewels as the Queen might have been for a state occasion and even the Prince was dazzled.

Anything that could have been crowded into the mansion had been brought there, except good taste. All Bubb wanted to say to the world was: See how rich I am. Anything I want I can buy.

With Mrs Behan twittering her delight and the sweat gleaming on Bubb’s fleshy face, Frederick was delighted to give such pleasure.

How different from Hervey who always pretended that he were bestowing a favour.

The banquet was served on gold plate with Bubb and Mrs Behan insisting on waiting on the Prince themselves, for, as Bubb said, if it were possible to pay someone enough to do this honour he would willingly, but he reckoned that only the host and hostess should wait on the Prince of Wales.

With Anne beside him Frederick enjoyed the banquet and all the sycophantish laughter every time he made a joke.

It was a most successful evening and when he won several hundred pounds from his host at cards, it grew even more so.

‘I hope,’ declared Bubb when he escorted the Prince through the lapis lazuli and semi-precious stone studded gallery to his carriage, ‘that Your Highness will continue to honour La Trappe.’

‘You may ask me again,’ Frederick told him. ‘I shall be happy to come.’

And he and Anne, embracing in the carriage which took them back to St James’s, agreed that it had been a delightful evening.

‘I think Bubb is a much more pleasant friend than Lord Fanny,’ whispered Anne.

And they laughed together at the antics of Lord Fanny; and Frederick said that he would spend his winnings in buying a piece of jewellery for his dearest Anne.

At La Trappe, Bubb was sprawling in a chair almost bursting out of his brocade jacket.

‘All went well,’ he said.

‘It couldn’t have been better,’ agreed Mrs Behan, perching on his knee.

It’s only the beginning.’

‘Don’t lose too much to him at cards.’

‘It’ll be worth every penny I lose. When did you know me not to get value for money?’

‘The best of us can be caught.’

She was very specially privileged and very determined to see that he was not robbed. In fact she was really his wife although the world thought she was his mistress. That was a necessary subterfuge because he had once become deeply involved with a woman named Strawbridge to whom he had promised marriage. He had been foolish enough to give her a bond for ten thousand pounds which she could turn into cash if he ever betrayed her by marrying another woman.

Mrs Behan was a sensible woman. She didn’t consider the standing of wife to be worth ten thousand pounds, particularly when she had attained that position in fact.

So she was known as his mistress and would be until Mrs Strawbridge no longer existed to plague them.

Therefore to her Bubb could discuss his future plans with the utmost freedom.


* * *

When Hervey came back to London and called on the Prince of Wales it was a great shock to be met with the statement that the Prince was unable to see him. And the shock grew greater when he was informed that if he cared to wait in the anteroom with others who wished an audience it might be that his Royal Highness would favour him.