‘I do not find them excellent and I want the old pictures back here ... at once, do you understand.’ He looked at Hervey and said: ‘See to it....’

Hervey was startled, for some of the old pictures had been so worthless that he and the Queen had decided they were no good for anything and had given them away; others the Queen had said should be sent to Windsor.

Hervey murmured that some of the pictures had gone to Windsor and that it would not be easy to get them back quickly. ‘Would Your Majesty allow the two Vandycks to remain ... for a while. I am sure Your Majesty will agree that they are very fine.’

The King’s eyes looked red as they did when he was angry.

‘I’ll swear that you have been giving your fine advice to the Queen when she was pulling my house to pieces and spoiling all my furniture. I suppose I should be grateful that she has left the walls standing. Keep those two Vandycks if you like, but take away those nasty little children hanging over the door. I will not have them, I tell you, I will not have them. And do this quickly. I want to see it done before I leave for London tomorrow, for I know if I do not see a thing done with my own eyes it will not be done.’

‘Your Majesty cannot mean that he wants the fat Venus put back over the door.’

‘And why cannot I mean that, pray? I tell you, my lord, that is exactly what I do want ... and what I mean to have. Oh, I have not such nice taste as your lordship. I happen to like my fat Venus better than anything you have given me. See that my orders are carried out.’

‘At Your Majesty’s service now ... as always,’ said Lord Hervey.

The King turned to the Queen.

‘It is time that we walked.’

She rose immediately and he carried her off to the gardens to scold her for pulling down his house in his absence, for daring to suggest he hadn’t her fine taste, for stuffing so much chocolate that she looked like a pig, for planting too many flowers in the garden; in fact he must give way to his anger that Kensington was not Herrenhausen and Caroline not Amelia Sophia de Walmoden.


* * *

Sir Robert came to the Queen’s closet to talk to her very privately.

There was no use hiding from the truth, he said; he was a man who must speak the truth and he knew that the Queen respected frankness. In fact it was the only way in Which they could be of use to each other. The Queen assured him that she was of this opinion.

‘There is no doubt,’ said Sir Robert, that in Madame de Walmoden we have a danger which we have never had to face before.’

‘I believe,’ replied the Queen, ‘that in time he will forget her.’

Sir Robert cleared his throat. ‘And how has he been with ... Your Majesty since his return?’

The Queen hesitated and Sir Robert went on, ‘I understand. Previously the King has always been your devoted admirer. Now there is a threat in this younger woman. She is three-and-twenty and Your Majesty is three-and-fifty. You cannot compete against youth, Madam.’

Caroline was startled, but she was accustomed not only to the minister’s frankness but his crudeness of expression.

‘Before,’ he went on, ‘the King has been enamoured of your person and such feelings are of great use when it is necessary to revert to the art of persuasion. I am sure that your success with the King has been due to the effect you have had on him in the boudoir. Let us face the fact. Your Majesty can no longer hope to exert the same influence in that respect. You must now rely entirely on your intellect.’

The Queen clearly disliked this conversation and was steeling herself to remember that Walpole was only concerned with the good of their alliance and that they should not fail to carry the King with them in spite of her loosening physical hold on him.

‘He always declared that however many mistresses he has makes no difference to his feelings for me.’

‘That was in the past, Madam. That was when he desired you along with the others and you had the additional value of being his wife which to his reasoning is a fillip rather than an obstruction to passion. But now we have Madame de Walmoden.’

‘And you think that he is so enamoured of her that it has completely changed his outlook?’

Walpole nodded grimly. Had not something similar happened to him. There had been no greater rake in London than Sir Robert Walpole until he met Maria Skerrett; and now he was so enamoured of her that he was almost ready to throw up politics for her sake. At least he did not care if the whole world knew what she meant to him. And if that could happen to an old cynic like Sir Robert Walpole, how much more easily could it catch a sentimental man like George II.

‘We must try to turn his thoughts from her,’ said Walpole. ‘After all, we have an advantage in the fact that she is miles away and he cannot visit her. At least without our knowing. And we must do all in our power to prevent little trips to Hanover. That should not be difficult. I can move Parliament to put obstructions in his way. But ... he is dissatisfied and will continue to think of this woman unless we can divert his thoughts. Has he visited Lady Deloraine?’

‘He has not mentioned that he has.’

‘But he has been in the habit of giving Your Majesty details of his affairs, and if he had, it is to be presumed that he would compare Lady Deloraine with Madame de Walmoden and want to discuss the differences with Your Majesty.’

‘He has not mentioned her and I believe that he has been feeling too ill since his return. He goes about his ordinary business, but he suffers great pain although he does not show it.’

‘Except in his temper, Madam, which, though never of the best, has deteriorated since his return. How much is this due to his disability and how much to his loss of this woman we shall doubtless discover in due course. But I am not entirely pleased with Lady Deloraine. She is a fool, though I am ready to admit one of the prettiest women at Court, but fools can be used by clever men. His Majesty was at one time rather pleased with Lady Tankerville who has now gone to the country. It might be that we should get her out of the country and set her to play quadrille every night in the King’s company.’

‘He plays now with the Princesses.’

‘Madam, it is not possible that the King longs to pass his company in that of his own daughters when he has tasted the sweets of passing them with other people’s. It is better that the King should have a mistress chosen by us than by himself, and although Lady Tankerville is a fool, she is at least a safe fool.’

‘I will consider this,’ said the Queen.

‘I know that Your Majesty appreciates absolute candour,’ replied Walpole.

She did of course; but she found the interview embarrassing and it added nothing to her comfort.


* * *

When the King arrived at St James’s it was to find London almost empty.

‘For this,’ he cried to the Queen when he came to her apartments to see her before the levee, ‘I have been forced to come to London. I must celebrate my birthday. The people expect it. And then the people do me the honour of leaving London. The English are the most ill-mannered people in the world! ‘

Caroline sighed. If he continued to condemn the English in this way he was going to become even more unpopular than he already was.

‘You should be ready by now,’ he declared. ‘Your women are clumsy fools.’

Caroline saw Mrs Purcell, her hairdresser, wince. She would have to placate her in some way later. Why didn’t the King realize that people were noticing how much more ill-tempered he had become, how much more irascible since his return from Hanover; and they all knew the reason for it.

The next thing would be the spate of lampoons.

She wanted to explain to him; but when had one ever been about to explain to George?

His temper did not improve when his subjects assembled in his drawing room to pay their respects and he noticed that they were not wearing their best clothes. He had seen many of the coats before and as he never made a mistake about such details, he knew he was right.

An empty town! An ill-dressed company! A fine way to greet the King!

He asked the Duke of Grafton why he thought so many had come in their second best coats on such an occasion.

‘Your Majesty,’ answered Grafton, ‘we hope soon to be attending the marriage of the Prince of ‘Wales. Everyone is saving his best for that occasion.’

The King’s eyes narrowed. ‘I see,’ he said, ‘that the marriage of the Prince of Wales is of more importance than the King’s birthday.’

Grafton looked astonished, for believing himself more royal than George he had never hesitated to show his feelings. Naturally the wedding of the Prince of Wales would be the most important event since the coronation.

‘And I suppose,’ went on the King, ‘that you will be going to the country in a few days time?’

‘I have always gone to the country at this time of the year, sir. It is the best time for hunting.’

‘A pretty occupation for a man of your age to spend all his time tormenting a poor fox that is generally a better beast than those who pursue it.’

‘The farmers will tell you, sir, that the fox does great damage to the crops.’

‘The fox hurts no other animal and those brutes who hurt him do it only for the pleasure they take in hurting.’

‘I must tell Your Majesty that I hunt for my health.’

‘Why not walk or merely ride for your health? And if there is any pleasure in the hunt I’m sure you know nothing of it, for with your great bulk of twenty stone no horse I am sure can carry you within hearing, much less within sight, of your hounds. No. Sir Robert Walpole must leave London at this time to recuperate his health. And that I understand. His mind needs relaxation and his body exercise. And he has his private business. It is natural enough that he should take a month in the country to see to these matters.’ The King raised his voice and his face took on a deeper tinge of scarlet. ‘But why other puppies and fools have to run out of town to do their silly business now, when they have had all the summer to do it, I cannot imagine. I have come back ... against my inclination ... to find the Court empty and every young fool and every old fool running to the country. And I might have stayed in Hanover.’