Mrs Udney raised her eyebrows and continued to hold the paper behind her back, but with a quick movement Charlotte snatched it and ran to the window with it.

‘Your Highness!’

‘You may report to Lady de Clifford that I have no manners if you wish. I shall report that you are most … d … disobedient.’

‘I am only concerned for Your Highness’s good and I am not sure whether it is good for you to see that paper. I beg of you … most humbly … to give it back to me.’

‘I shall see first what it is you are trying to hide from me.’

‘It is on the second page, Your Highness.’

‘Oh,’ said Charlotte, ‘and it is about my mother I daresay.’

‘Oh no, Your Highness. It is you this time.’

There was no doubt that Mrs Udney was pleased … the horrid creature.

‘Would Your Highness like me to find it for you?’

Charlotte looked at her through narrowed eyes. Perhaps it was as well to let her do so. There might often be pieces in the paper which she ought to see and therefore if she made it clear that she expected Mrs Udney to show her, the woman might do so – for clearly she enjoyed these pieces.

Charlotte handed her the paper and Mrs Udney opened it and laid it on the table.

‘There, Your Highness.’

‘But what is it supposed to be? That’s meant for Mrs Fitzherbert I suppose. It is not much like her.’

‘Yet Your Highness recognized her.’

‘It’s Mrs Fitzherbert all right, but it makes her nose longer and it is just not beautiful enough.’

‘The object of these cartoons is not to show off beauty but to make the point.’

‘Point? What point? And who is the child she is carrying in her arms? Minney Seymour, I suppose.’

‘Oh, no no. See, the diadem she is wearing. That proclaims her to be royal.’

‘You … you mean … my … myself?’

‘Who else, Your Highness? You have been visiting the lady a great deal lately and the point is that the people don’t like it.’

‘The … p … people! What has it to do with the people?’

‘Everything the royal family does is the concern of the people.’

‘But …’

‘You see, Your Highness, she has been given a pair of wings and she is flying up to heaven with you in her arms. Look what you are holding. A rosary … and images of the saints. You see, it means that she is making a Catholic of you.’

‘But it’s nonsense.’

‘She is a Catholic and she does seem to be a very special friend.’

‘She has never talked to me about religion.’

‘The people won’t believe that.’

‘It’s just n … nonsense,’ said Charlotte angrily and picking up the paper she threw it on to the floor before walking haughtily out of the room.

Lady de Clifford never took her to Tilney Street now; this meant that not only was she cut off from Mrs Fitzherbert but from the Prince of Wales.

‘Why do I never go with you to see Mrs Fitzherbert and Minney nowadays?’ she demanded in her forthright way.

Lady de Clifford looked embarrassed.

‘My dear Princess, it is really better not.’

‘Why not? I liked visiting Mrs Fitzherbert. She is my good friend.’

‘In view of the circumstances …’

‘What circumstances?’

‘You don’t understand these things.’

‘Nothing makes me more angry than to be told I don’t understand. If I don’t understand, then explain.’

‘Mrs Fitzherbert is … scarcely a lady you should visit.’

‘Why not? Nobody could be kinder. She is like a queen. I often think Queen Elizabeth must have been a little like her only not so kind. Come along, my lady, do not try to change the subject. Why must I not visit Mrs Fitzherbert?’

‘Your mother …’

‘My mother always spoke most kindly of her – and in any case I am not allowed to see her either.’

Oh dear, thought Lady de Clifford, I shall be saying something most indiscreet soon. I really think the task of looking after such a princess is too much for me. It was better to tell the truth otherwise she might say something more shocking.

‘You know that Mrs Fitzherbert is a Catholic and that you may well one day be Queen of England.’

‘I shall be Queen of England one day, my lady.’

‘Therefore the people do not wish you to become a Catholic.’

Charlotte stamped her foot. ‘Am I not receiving my religious instruction from the Bish-Up and do you think he would make a Catholic of me?’

Lady de Clifford put her fingers to her ears and begged Charlotte not to utter such heresy.

‘Then tell me how I am in danger of becoming a Catholic.’

‘You are in no danger of course, but the people remember that Mrs Fitzherbert is a Catholic and it is possible that, if you see her very often, she might persuade you to become one.’

‘It’s nonsense … nonsense.’

‘The people are often mistaken, but princes and princesses have to behave in a way which pleases them.’

‘So the people have decided that I am not to see my dear Mrs Fitzherbert.’

‘They have made this quite clear.’

‘I suppose the old Begum has given her orders.’

‘Her Majesty has said nothing as yet, but she will as soon as she reads the spate of comments in the newspapers.’

Charlotte felt an impulse to cry – loudly and angrily. But she did not. There was too much weeping in the family and it had made it a rather ridiculous habit. Real tears should be for real tragedy; and this was one she felt; but she must not cry.

‘Cliffy,’ she said, ‘dear Cliffy, could I see Mrs Fitzherbert once … just once more? Could we ride there … with me dressed like an ordinary young lady … just once … so that I could talk to her? I promise it would be just that once.’

‘It would be very unwise,’ said Lady de Clifford.

But Charlotte knew how to wheedle her governess.

She did allow herself the luxury of tears when she was alone with Mrs Fitzherbert.

She lay against the sweet-smelling bosom and told Maria how unhappy she was that they were not to meet.

‘I shall have news of you,’ soothed Maria. ‘And perhaps later on this nonsense will be forgotten.’

‘You see,’ Charlotte explained, ‘it had started to change. You changed it. But it won’t go on now.’

‘It can. I will talk to the Prince about you. I will make him interested in what you are doing.’

‘Yes? But it won’t be the same. I loved it here. This little house is so different from Carlton House and Windsor and Kew and the rest of them. It’s different from Montague House. It’s like a home … the sort of home I should like to live in sometimes. Perhaps I’d like to come to it when I felt sad. I have to learn to be a queen and so I suppose I need a palace for that. But I want to come and see you sometimes.’

‘Well, perhaps you will one day. These things happen and then after a while they are forgotten. You’ll come again perhaps and play with Minney.’

‘Minney is lucky … does she know it?’

‘I think she does.’

Charlotte stood up straight and said almost regally: ‘Goodbye, Mrs Fitzherbert.’

‘Let us say au revoir instead of goodbye.’

Charlotte held up her face to be kissed.

‘You are still my friend?’ she asked.

‘I’ll always be your friend,’ said Mrs Fitzherbert.

Oatlands

THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE was not exactly ill but she was now and then listless; her appetite was not so good as it had been; suddenly she would fly into a rage and although it was quickly over, Lady de Clifford thought she should report to the Queen that the Princess Charlotte’s health was not as good as it had been and it might well be that she needed a change of air.

The Queen consulted the King, who immediately began to worry.

‘The child should see her mother. It’s this she’s fretting for. Not natural, eh?’

‘I do not see what good her mother could do her. We cannot allow them to meet until this affair is settled. George said he was going to look through the evidence again. There is no doubt about it that that woman is leading a very immoral life at Montague House. It’s no place for the Princess.’

‘There was nothing proved against her. I think those people … those Douglases, or whatever their names are, were rogues.’

‘The sort of people with whom one would expect Caroline to be on friendly terms. No, the child cannot see her mother … not yet at any rate. That would be tantamount to receiving her at Court and that we cannot do. George would be very much against it.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ said the King with unusual firmness, ‘that I should be against it. I’m sure the woman means well. She’s all right. Not bad-looking. I can’t see why George can’t live with her. It’s what’s expected of us, eh, what?’

‘She is impossible. I can scarcely believe that she is a princess. She behaves like some low serving girl. No, with Charlotte’s temperament – which I fear she has inherited from her mother – it would be folly to bring them together.’

‘Something will have to be done about it soon. She’s got friends in the House. Canning’s one … Perceval’s another. They’ll be bringing the matter up, depend upon it. And then what are we going to do, eh, what?’

‘At least do our duty by the child until we are forced to do otherwise. The sea air would be good for her. I believe Bognor to be an excellent spot. I think I shall have inquiries made.’

‘There could be no harm in that, eh, what?’ said the King; and he was thinking of the Princess of Wales with her ready laughter and low-cut gowns, and free ways with all those men who had visited Montague House.