‘How can I thank you for showing such kindness to me?’ he asked fervently.

‘Your Highness has no need to be grateful to me,’ she told him. ‘I am thinking of what is best for the child.’

He was impressed. What an unusual woman. He admired her remoteness almost as much as her elegance.

‘May I call on you tomorrow so that we may discuss this matter further?’

‘Lord Hertford and I are at Your Highness’s command.’

‘No,’ he told her fervently. ‘It is I who am at yours.’

After that he was a constant visitor. He sometimes called when Lord Hertford was not at home, for Lady Hertford could discuss the matter of Mary Seymour as well as her husband, and this she did.

He would sit watching her glacial features, her gracious movements and marvel at their excellence. But she remained as remote as the moon and never seemed to be aware of his admiration.

Sometimes the tears would come into his eyes when he tried to tell her that he could almost be glad of this controversy over the child because it had brought him the friendship of herself and her husband; to which she replied that if it brought also the happiness of the child it would then be a double blessing.

He went to Maria and told her that although the case seemed to be going against them he had great faith in the Hertfords, particularly Lady Hertford who seemed to possess such fine feelings with regard to Minney’s happiness.

‘We are going to win,’ he cried.

‘If we do,’ Maria told him, ‘it will be due to your efforts.’

‘My dearest, you know I would not spare myself in my desire to bring you and Minney together for I am convinced that the place of two such special people is under the same roof.’

She embraced-him and wept; and he, ever ready with the tears, wept with her.

‘My dearest love, the three of us shall be together, never fear.’

Miss Pigot said that as the dear Prince was determined they were bound to win. He summoned several of his friends among the peers who would be giving their vote and told them why they must vote for the child’s being left with Maria. It was hard for them to refuse him; but there remained a contingent of those who would be only too ready to work against him.

And when the case was nearing its end he called on the Hertfords and was received by them both – a little to his disappointment – for he had been hoping for a tête-à-tête with Isabella.

‘We have had an idea,’ she told him, ‘and I trust Your Highness will think it a good one. Francis believes that it means certain victory.’ She inclined her head to her husband. ‘Pray explain it, Francis.’

Lord Hertford said: ‘I propose to make a statement in the Lords during which I will explain that this matter is distasteful to me. It is a family matter; and as there is some dispute as to who should be the guardian of little Mary Seymour, I believe that I, as the head of the house, should take over that duty myself. I shall be the child’s guardian. Henry cannot object to that. He dare not. Justice would most certainly be with me.’

‘You will take the child?’ asked the Prince.

‘I will, Your Highness. And when she is given into my care I shall appoint the one whom I think most suitable to care for her, who, Your Highness can have no doubt, will be Mrs Fitzherbert.’

The Prince had risen, tears springing to his eyes. He grasped Lord Hertford’s hand, and gripped it for a moment; then he turned to Lady Hertford. He would have embraced her, but she must have realized his intention for with skilful grace she had somehow placed herself behind her husband.

‘How can I thank you good people for all you have done?’ demanded the Prince.

‘It has been our duty and our pleasure,’ said Lady Hertford.

‘It cannot fail,’ added Lord Hertford.

‘My thanks … my warmest thanks!’ The Prince looked momentarily melancholy. ‘One thing occurs to me. This matter has brought us close together. We have discovered friendship. I hope that now it is over that friendship will continue.’

He was looking at Lord Hertford but he was thinking of his wife.

‘We are honoured,’ said Lord Hertford.

‘Honoured indeed,’ echoed Lady Hertford.

The Prince was delighted. He took his leave and went at once to Maria.

‘Maria, my dearest love, I have the best news in the world. But perhaps I won’t give it to you yet. Or shall I? Let me say this. Minney is ours … for ever.’

‘The case is not over.’

‘That’s the secret part, but I promise you that Minney is yours. You need never have another qualm. I have settled this matter.’

‘But they are meeting tomorrow.’

‘Let them. You will see.’

‘You have made some arrangement?’

He was nodding delightedly. It was at such moments when her love for him was almost unbearable. He was a like a boy who has provided some rich treat which he is going to enjoy as much as those for whom it was intended, and if he meant that the anxiety about losing Minney was over then she was the happiest woman in the world.

‘You must tell me, please,’ she cried. ‘I cannot endure the suspense. I must feel sure before I can be completely at ease.’

So he put his arm through hers and they walked up and down her drawing room while he told her. ‘As head of the family, Hertford is going to claim Minney and he has sworn to me that as soon as he has done that he will proclaim you her guardian.’

She clasped her hands together. It was rarely she wept but she did so then. These were tears of joy.

‘You have done this … you … my darling.’

He admitted it. ‘Have I not told you that I would do anything in the world for you?’

For a moment those unpleasant thoughts came into her mind. Anything? Had he not betrayed her … once when he had let Fox deny his marriage to her in the House of Commons and a second time when he had left her for Lady Jersey? Had he not been guilty of many infidelities? But the present dilemma had appealed to his chivalry; he loved Minney even as she did, and the loss of the child whom she regarded as her own would have been a greater tragedy than anything that could have befallen her then or now. She was sure of that. With such an unaccountable lover perhaps a woman turned naturally to her children – and Minney was her child.

But he had done this for her. He had thrown himself into the fight for Minney with all that youthful sentiment of which he was capable, and at such times he was at his most lovable.

This must be the happiest time of her life; she had him and Minney as well.

‘We should tell them,’ she said. ‘Minney and Pigot. They are as anxious as we are.’

‘We will tell them now,’ he said. ‘Send for them.’

And so they came and he embraced them both. He always laughed at his dear Pig who wanted to curtsey and grew fiery red when he seized her as she was about to do so. Of course he loved that sort of adoration; and there was Minney. ‘Prinney, darling, what are you doing here now? This is not your time.’

And he, with his sense of the dramatic, took the little girl by the hand and led her to Maria.

‘Here is your mother, Minney. I give you to her. Love each other always.’

Minney looked from one to the other and understood what he meant, for her days had been haunted by the fear that one day a carriage would draw up and a wicked aunt would come to take her away; at night sometimes she would awake crying because she thought they had come by stealth to take her. But there he was, looking like a plump benevolent god. Their fears were over. He – being a god – had worked the miracle.

Minney threw herself into Maria’s arms and clung to her for some seconds; then she turned to him. He was her dear, dear Prinney, the best Prinney in the world.

And they were all laughing and weeping together, with Miss Pigot standing by crying and laughing too.

The weeks that followed were indeed happy ones for Maria, for everything worked out as the Hertfords had said it would. Lord Hertford made his announcement in the Lords and as a result was, by a unanimous vote, granted the guardianship of his brother’s daughter which he would share with his wife. No sooner was this given him than he declared that he appointed Mrs Maria Fitzherbert to continue to act as a mother to his niece.

It was wonderful. After three years of uncertainty they were safe.

Miss Pigot was continually pointing out how His Highness had worked to give Maria her heart’s desire; and Maria agreed with her. As for the Prince, he went about beaming his pleasure, playing games with Minney and being very gracious to young George Keppel. Even his manner towards his daughter had changed and although he could not feel at ease with her as he did with Minney and George, there was a new warmth in his manner. Maria noticed this and was delighted that he had listened to her.

She intended to add Charlotte to her little family circle and since she was the Prince’s daughter to try and be a mother to her and bring a little security into her life.

Minney would be eight years old in November of the year and Maria planned to give a very special party to celebrate this event.

When she discussed this with the Prince he cried: ‘Certainly. Let it be ball and a supper. It shall take place in the Pavilion. You must start arrangements at once, my dearest love.’

Minney was delighted at the prospect of such a ball and she and Maria set about making the plans.

The Prince meanwhile went to London. There he called on the Hertfords and was entertained by them. It was beginning to be noticed that he was a constant visitor there; and if Lady Hertford had not been known to be a lady of great frigidity and one whose concern for her reputation was known to be greater than her desire for royal patronage, there would have been a new scandal and people would have been asking each other whether Maria Fitzherbert was not heading for more troublous times.