Lady Archibald Hamilton brought it wrapped up in an old red coat and a few napkins. She apologized to the Queen, explaining this was all she could find.

The Queen took the baby and kissed her.

‘Poor child,’ she said, ‘you have come into a troublesome world. It is a miracle that no harm has come to the Princess. What a pair of fools! And I’m surprised at you, my Lady Archibald. You have had ten children, you should have explained what danger the Princess was in.’

Lady Archibald Hamilton turned to the Prince and said: ‘You see, sir!’ in such a tone that the Queen was satisfied that she at least had attempted to stop the venture.

The Queen went back to Hampton where her daughters Amelia and Caroline were already up waiting to hear the news.

‘I have seen the fools,’ she said. ‘He is a scoundrel and she, poor thing, has no mind. If she were to spit into my face I should just wipe it off and not hold it against her.’

‘And the child, Mamma?’

‘A poor ugly little she-mouse. If instead of her there had been a brave large fat jolly boy, I should have been suspicious. As it is, I must accept the fact that this son of mine is an arrogant fool, but at least he is not an impotent one.’


* * *

Shortly after the birth of the Prince’s daughter, Lady Walpole died. She and Sir Robert had meant little to each other for years and Sir Robert’s immediate thought was that now he would be able to marry Maria.

At the same time he was expected to show some sorrow and the Queen summoned him that she might express her sympathy. This he accepted perfunctorily, but the Queen’s desire to know exactly how Lady Walpole had died aroused his interest.

What had been her symptoms? Was she not young to die?

‘Death,’ said Sir Robert, ‘can strike any of us at any time.’

‘That I know well,’ she said, ‘but she was a woman who fancied her comforts.’

‘She lived ... well,’ commented Walpole.

‘She had had her children. I wondered whether her death was due to ...’ The Queen paused and her manner became almost furtive. ‘Some women,’ she went on, ‘often suffer injuries in childbirth from which they never recover. I have heard of internal ruptures which can be dangerous. I wondered whether this had happened to Lady Walpole.’

‘I know of no such thing.’

‘You do not think that perhaps she kept it a secret?’

‘Why should she?’

‘Oh ... it might be something of which a woman did not care to speak.’

Walpole said: ‘It was nothing of that.’

And he knew then that he had discovered the Queen’s secret. This was the knowledge she shared with Lady Sundon; and she would tell no one, receive no treatment, because she thought it was too humiliating. Or was she afraid that through it she would lose the King’s affection?

It was folly. If the Queen did suffer in this way she should consult the physicians; he believed there was an operation that could be performed.

He went home to discuss this depressing matter with Maria and the exhilarating project of their coming marriage which, for the time, because it would follow so quickly on the death of his wife, they must keep their secret.

Two secrets, he thought. One so morbid, one so joyous; and neither need be secret. Nor would they be long? Soon everyone would know that he and Maria were married. And the Queen? If she did not look after her health the news of her disability would soon become common knowledge.

The Secret Betrayed


IT was a misty November morning when the Queen decided that she would go to inspect the new library she was having built in the stable yard of St James’s.