And the Queen? He was disappointed in the Queen. She was a German at heart too. She could not conceive that the German Empire should be at war and she not with it. She had once seemed so loyal to England; she had really loved her new country. But she was ill. Walpole noticed the physical deterioration. There were times when she could scarcely stand for fatigue and she continued to, smiling, pretending, because in this royal family there was something shameful about confessing to physical defects.

Mrs Clayton had some hold over her. Not that Mrs Clayton would ever dare threaten the Queen. It was as though she kept a secret and her reward for doing so was to be on very specially intimate terms.

Strange that she should support the King in this. Was it love of Germany, the effect of fatigue, or the knowledge that the King was so set on going to war that he would never be deterred from this desire and she had no intention of attempting something which she knew could only end in defeat.

Was she losing her physical hold on him? In spite of his infidelities he was still an uxorious husband. He thought Caroline beautiful; he spent his allotted time with her; her hold on him, Walpole had always known, was partly physical. If that side of their relationship ceased, immediately the bond would slacken. George was that sort of man.

What an anxiety for the Queen!

He brought his mind back to George’s torrent of words, but he was not going to be moved by them. He would lose his favour with them both rather than see England forced into a war which could do her no good and could be brought to no satisfactory conclusion. He thought Louis a fool to have put his father-in-law on the Polish throne for sentimental reasons, for that was what it amounted to. Cardinal Fleury, the real ruler of France, must have deplored that action, but at the same time was using the situation to make a fresh bid to satisfy French territorial claims.

Foolish Louis! He, Walpole, would see that George should not be as foolish.

George was glaring at him, eyes bulging, wig askew, cheeks purple; but Walpole lowered his eyes and said coolly : ‘If England takes part in this fight for a Polish crown, the Crown of England will as surely be come to be fought for as that of Poland. And now may I have Your Majesties leave to retire.’

‘You have ‘ shouted the King. ‘And go ... and don’t come back until you have some sense.’

In the coffee house behind Buckingham House, Hervey waited for Anne Vane. He was eager. He had rarely enjoyed an adventure so much; not only had he an extremely pretty and experienced mistress but he was at the same time cuckolding his great enemy the Prince of Wales; he was also dabbling in intrigue because in all affairs at Court, however ineffectual he was as a man, the Prince was a figurehead and therefore of importance.

Walpole was delighted with the information he could bring to him; and it was amusing and stimulating for Lord Hervey to be the close friend and informant of the Prime Minister.

Anne came breathlessly and a little distraught.

‘My dearest,’ said Hervey, ‘what is wrong?’

His heart leaped with excitement. Had the Prince discovered their liaison; he almost hoped he had because it would be so amusing.

‘It’s Fred.’

‘Naturally.’

‘He wants me to take a house in Wimbledon.’

‘He has discovered ...’

She laughed. ‘Not he. There’d be real trouble if he had. He’s worried about FitzFrederick’s health and he thinks the air of London bad for him.’

‘He’s not tiring of you?’

‘No. Never! But he really is fond of FitzFred. He’s continually finding similarities in him to himself.’

‘I hope they are not obvious to others ... for poor little Fitz’s sake.’

‘No. He just imagines. But what about my going to Wimbledon?’

‘We’ll find a way.’

‘I shall have to come up ... at least once a week. You’ll have to come to my house there. We’ll have to give up this coffee house.’

Hervey was not displeased. This gave a new impetus to the adventure.

They embraced and afterwards talked of Frederick.

‘He wants to go to the wars.’

‘Like Papa to fight for Germany.’

‘He fancies himself as a soldier.’

‘They all do ... these Germans. It’s the military instinct. And Fred is angry because he is not allowed to go.’

‘They’re on at him all the time. Lyttleton and Chesterfield with Bolingbroke in the background. He ought to have this.... He ought to have that. Poor Bubb is going to be dropped soon. I don’t know how he’ll take it. The Opposition is going to agitate for war ... just to try to get Walpole out.’

‘They won’t. But it’s amusing to see them try.’

‘Let’s talk about Wimbledon and what we shall do when I’m there.’

They arranged that Anne should come up to London one day a week to her town house. There she would keep only one servant while she was in Wimbledon and see that this servant was out when Hervey arranged to call.

This seemed very suitable and having made their plans Hervey went straight to see Walpole to tell him the effect the King’s clamouring for war was having on the Prince of Wales and his enemies in the Opposition.

He found Walpole in a state of great irritation.

‘I have just been given this paper,’ he told Hervey. ‘Look at it. In French! You can help me translate. It’s written by Haltorf.’

‘Ha!’ cried Hervey. ‘One guesses where Philip von Haltorf’s sympathies lie!’

‘Be fair to the man. He is a German, as well as minister in London for Hanoverian affairs.’

‘And so determined to sacrifice England for Hanover.’

‘As we are determined that England shall make no sacrifices for the Germans.’

Hervey scrutinized the paper.

‘I see he is most disturbed by the growing power of France and the House of Bourbon. He recalls the wars of Queen Anne’s reign. He does not understand why the country which went to war then so readily should be so chary of doing so now. If England does not interfere, France will dominate England.’

‘I shall answer each paragraph separately.’

‘The King will be very peevish.’

‘My lord, England shall not go to war to please a peevish boy.’

‘Not when Sir Robert Walpole—and in his humble way Lord Hervey—are there to prevent it.’

Walpole grasped his hand warmly and Hervey responded with real affection.


* * *

The King continued to fume and the Queen, to Walpole’s disappointment, remained sturdily beside her husband in this matter. ‘The first time I have known her judgment to fail,’ Walpole commented to Hervey. George’s temper grew worse and everyone who came near him suffered for it, the Queen most of all in spite of the fact that she supported him in his desire.

Walpole remained firm. England was not going to war under his leadership; and even the King had to admit that if the matter were put to the country the people would be behind Walpole.

In spite of Hervey’s agreeing with Walpole the Queen liked him none the less. In fact he was growing more and more friendly with her; and this meant that he was on more intimate terms with the King.

Caroline had asked the King to give him an extra thousand pounds a year.

The creature is worth it,’ she said. ‘He is so diverting.’

The King grunted that people at the Court should serve their Majesties for the honour of it, but he agreed that Hervey should have the money.

As a result Hervey grew bolder and bolder and would joke with the Queen in the frankest way; and although she often reproved him for his lack of respect she always did so jokingly and did not wish him to change his manner towards her.

Whenever she rode out he must be beside her chaise. Divert my attention, I pray you,’ she would say, ‘from these tiresome people who so like to hunt little animals to the death.’

And he would remember the latest scandal and tell it so maliciously that she would indeed be diverted and find the hunt a pleasure instead of a bore.

She would call him ‘child’ now and then; and refer to him as her ‘pupil’ and her ‘charge’. All this in the utmost affection; and she would even allow him to laugh at the Prince of Wales, and although she pretended to be shocked and would reprove him with mock sternness he knew that she liked this conversation better than that about anyone else.

So during those months as the antagonism between the Prince of Wales and his parents grew stronger, so did the Queen’s affection for Lord Hervey.

Once when Charlotte Clayton came in and found the Queen and Lord Hervey deep in bantering conversation, Caroline said: ‘If I were not so old I should be talked of for this creature.’

Charlotte Clayton smiled benignly. Hervey had made sure that he kept in her good graces for Walpole had told him that it was his belief that Mrs Clayton had some hold over the Queen and therefore carried influence with her.


* * *

The Queen was delighted because her daughter Anne was coming to England for a visit. This was a great pleasure, for Caroline had only discovered how sadly she would miss her daughter when she had left; and often she would wake up in the night thinking of Anne with that grotesque creature beside her.

And now Anne was coming home because the Prince of Orange was away from Holland fighting.

When the King heard, he was half pleased, half angry. Of all his children, strangely enough he preferred Anne, although that did not mean he had a great affection for her because he cared little for any of his children. But he was sentimental enough to imagine he was pleased to have her home again. Then he began raging because Orange was fighting and he wasn’t.