He converted William to this point of view.

And thus it was when the brothers attended the ball at St James’s which was held to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, William fell in love for the first time.

She was the Hon. Julia Fortescue and when William saw her he understood fully the doctrines of the Prince of Wales. He danced with her; they talked. He was no longer shy but in her presence he felt a little tongue-tied. He was not yet sixteen – very young, of course, but then so was she and he had been living like a man. They could not make a man of him one minute, he thought, and expect him to be a boy the next.

He danced again with Miss Fortescue. He told her that he had had many adventures during his life at sea but he had never met anyone like her before. She thought he was charming, because he was so modest and humble in spite of being the son of the King.

The Queen was aware that he was dancing with Miss Fortescue more than he should. He ought to remember his duty. There were other ladies – not such young ladies – with whom he should be stepping out. But Her Majesty was not so concerned with him as she was with the Prince of Wales who was showing marked attention to Lady Sarah Campbell.

After the ball he and George talked of their divinities and it was George who suggested that they should marry.

‘Marry!’ cried William ecstatically. ‘It is what I wish for beyond all things.’

He called on her. Her family lived in Piccadilly in a big house facing Green Park, and naturally the son of the King was welcome there.

Every day he visited the Fortescues; people were talking and Julia and he began to make plans.

‘We will marry,’ declared William.

‘Could we?’ she asked. ‘Is it possible?’

‘Of course it is.’

‘There is the Marriage Act.’

William wrinkled his brows; he had not concerned himself much with Acts.

‘The King and Queen would never consent.’

‘Why not?’

‘They’d want a princess for you.’

‘You’re better than any princess. They must see that.’

But of course the King did not think so; and when he heard that William was dancing attendance on Miss Fortescue, calling on her at her home and was talking of marriage, he sent for his son.

‘What’s this, eh? Courting a young woman. What are you thinking of, eh?’

‘Marriage, Sir,’ said William.

‘Are you mad?’

‘Only in love, Sir.’

The King’s eyes bulged and his face grew red but he was momentarily silent. He couldn’t help thinking of his own youth. He had been only William’s age when he had been so wholeheartedly in love with a young Quakeress that he had acted in the most foolish way. And he had been Prince of Wales.

He softened a little. Mustn’t be too hard on William.

‘Look here, my son, you cannot marry this young woman. You must know that.’

‘Why not? She is of good family. I met her at the St James’s ball. You speak as though she were some innkeeper’s daughter.’

The King shuddered. An innkeeper’s daughter was not very different from a linen-draper’s niece; and he would be haunted for ever by his love affair with Hannah Lightfoot. Just William’s age… he was thinking. It’s not easy to be a young man.

‘My boy,’ he said gently, ‘you are a prince, a king’s son, and as such you owe your duty to the State. It is the Parliament which decides whom you marry. You have to obey the Parliament, my boy. It’s something all your family have to learn sooner or later. Make no mistake about it.’

‘Why should Parliament decide whom I marry?’

‘Because, my dear boy, you are in the line of succession for one thing. You have two elder brothers it is true, but you could one day be King of this realm – that is not an impossibility and because of this you must marry the bride who is chosen for you.’

‘I could refuse.’

‘You are wrong, my son. You could not refuse. And you must have my consent to marry. If you married without it your marriage would not be legal.’

‘A marriage is a marriage…’ began William stubbornly, amazed that he should for the first time in his life dare to contradict his father. It was his love for Julia Fortescue which was driving him on to do so.

‘When legal,’ interrupted the King. ‘Now listen, William. Have you ever heard of the Royal Marriage Act, eh? I’ll tell you. It was my Act so none could tell you better, eh! You know how your uncles Gloucester and Cumberland displeased me. Not received at court. You know that. Well, they married without my consent… unsuitably. But they are married. It was after their marriages that I brought in my Act. And in that Act, my boy – and it will be well for you and your brothers to remember this – no member of the royal family under the age of twenty-five may marry without my consent. They can go through a ceremony of marriage, yes, but it is no marriage – because that is what it says in my Marriage Act.’

William’s face had grown red; he was angry; but the King was surprisingly lenient.

He laid his hand on his shoulder.

‘Young women,’ he said. ‘Very attractive. Want to protect ’em… marry ’em. Yes, yes. I understand. But king’s sons have their duties, eh? It doesn’t do for kings’ sons to make promises of marriage.’

William went to Julia and told her what his father had said. They wept together but they knew they would have to obey the King.

‘We’ll wait,’ said William. ‘You must write to me when I go to sea.’

And he did go to sea very quickly.

‘Mischief they get into at home,’ said the King to the Queen. ‘Boys – always trouble with them. Different from the girls. William’s not a bad boy, though. Now George…’

And while the King gave himself up to his major irritation and preoccupation – his son George – William returned to sea to dream of dancing at St James’s and riding out in the park with Julia Fortescue.

Julia wrote to him and he received some of her letters. He thought of her as he went through his duties on board; for several weeks he dreamed of flouting his father, the Parliament and Julia’s family and marrying her whatever they said.

Why should Parliament tell me whom I should love? he asked himself.

And then he went ashore and carousing with some of his friends he met other girls. Girls were irresistible and he struggled to be faithful to Julia; but she was so far away and so different; and the friendship of these girls involved him in no trouble except perhaps a fight or two with another midshipman who was a rival for their favours.

There was so much to do. There were after all enemies afloat. There were constant skirmishes with French and Spaniards – and life was too full of exotic incidents to brood on romance at home. He was not like George – an elegant lover of beautiful women, who could write flowery letters and concern himself only with romantic love. He had to be a sailor at the same time; he had to do his watches and his other duties. Life was arduous when there were no concessions to royalty.

The King thought it best that William should not return home for a while, so he stayed at sea and the King decided it was not a bad idea for him to visit New York.

William was delighted to see the world. He had been farther afield than any member of his family and that seemed a distinction. Even George had not travelled; not that George would have wished to visit uncivilized places; but there was no doubt that travel added to his knowledge.

New York was exciting. The conflict between the colonists and England was over – with victory for the colonists – but there was great interest in the arrival of William. He was the first member of the royal family to set foot in America and he received a warm welcome: but the mere visit of a boy member of the family could naturally not stop the flow of events.

It was an exciting period although William did not learn until afterwards how exciting. He was to discover that a certain Colonel Ogden had with the help of George Washington planned to kidnap him and hold him as a hostage for bargaining with the Mother Country. The plan went awry but William was thrilled when he heard it. He wondered what would have happened if the colonists had succeeded in carrying him off.

It was small wonder that leading such a varied and exciting life he forgot in time what Julia Fortescue looked like; and he became more and more eager to win the favour of any attractive girl he met.

William had never taken kindly to his lessons; poetry he despised; he did not even have the family’s love of music. But he was passionately fond of the drama. He like to visit the theatre and to play parts himself. This had not been possible in the nurseries at Kew. George might have acted and delighted in it, and Frederick would have followed George, but there was no one else to take parts so it had not occurred to them to play.

But here on board there were plenty to take parts and William did not see why they should not spend some of the time at sea in staging a play.

When he explained how they could use the orlop deck for their theatre and how they could improvise their costume he did not have much difficulty in arousing enthusiasm. They were clamouring for parts. He had decided they would play The Merry Wives of Windsor which he had seen at Drury Lane. He thought they would have some fun with the men dressing up as women, and characters such as Falstaff offered great opportunities. There was a great deal of amusement on the orlop deck and some of the senior officers came to see the play.

It was an excellent way of keeping the men contented during long periods at sea.