‘I suppose we do.’

‘Certainly we do. And tonight I shall want you to tell me whether or not it will do. Just that. And then if it does you will get to know this young man and decide whether you can marry him.’

‘Papa …’

‘Oh, I know, you are grateful for all I have done. I have been very patient, now haven’t I, Charlotte? What an indulgent parent I am! But then of course you are my dearest daughter and I happen to love you.’

She was pink with pleasure.

‘Now let us try that Highland Fling together, eh? You can hum the music.’

It was hilarious. Large as he was, he was so graceful that he made her, for all her boisterous youth, feel awkward.

‘No, you are wrong,’ he cried. ‘Charlotte, you are out of step.’

‘It is you! It is you!’ she shrieked. And they danced together, hallo-ing at the appropriate moments until he was breathless and sat down.

She sat beside him.

‘There,’ he said, ‘we did that rather well together.’

‘I shall never dance as gracefully as you, Papa,’ she said.

He smiled, acknowledging the truth of this.

He patted her hand. ‘You do very well,’ he said. ‘And tonight you will tell me that … it will do.’

When he had gone her spirits sank.

She went to her dressing room and called to Louisa.

‘What shall I wear, Louisa?’ she asked.

‘Your most becoming gown, I should think.’

‘Leave me and I will look through my gowns and choose myself.’

When she was alone, she thought of him dancing with her. She had been really happy then; it was how she had always wanted him to be in her childhood when she had striven so much to please him. It had seemed while they were dancing like that that they were friends. But of course it was really because he wanted her to say it would do.

Would she have been happier living with her mother? At least there would have been a show of affection.

If she went to Carlton House tonight and said ‘It will do,’ he would be very affectionate. He would always be affectionate if she did what he asked.

She turned over her dresses. This lovely lamé one – how becoming that was! It made her look like a fairy princess. Then there was one sewn with pearls. That and feathers in her hair … she could look quite beautiful.

There was the purple satin with the black lace. It was like a dress one would wear in mourning, but Mercer had said that only a very fair person could wear it.

A mourning dress!

She took it up and held it against her.

‘Not that!’ Louisa had come and was staring at her.

‘Why not?’

‘It is hardly suitable for …’

‘For what, Louisa?’

‘When you are going to meet …’

Charlotte laid the dress on the bed. ‘I have chosen to wear it,’ she said.

The Regent embraced her, but she saw by his eyes that he did not like the dress.

‘It’s a dinner party, though a small one,’ he said. ‘Not a funeral.’

She did not answer as he led her to his guests. There were not more than a dozen or so; it was indeed a small party according to Carlton House standards; and there – a little awkward, perhaps a little overpowered by the splendour of Carlton House, was the Prince of Orange.

‘It is time you two young people met,’ said the Regent jovially.

They faced each other. He was small and pale; he had scarcely any chin and his teeth were uneven and not good; but there was about him a desire to please and his smile, even though it exposed the teeth, illuminated his face and made it quite pleasant. The fact that Mercer had found something to praise influenced Charlotte in his favour.

‘I have heard so much of you … for some time,’ she said; and he smiled, understanding in what manner she must have heard and for what purpose.

They had been placed side by side at the dinner table and the rest of the guests made sure – on the Regent’s instructions – that they had an opportunity to talk together. At the same time the Regent himself engaged the young Prince in conversation about his army experiences and drew him out so that he was able to show himself as a good soldier and a modest man, for the Regent chided him for being too reticent about his successes in the field.

‘I have heard,’ he declared, ‘from Wellington what a brave soldier you were, so do not attempt to tell us the reverse.’

Charlotte liked him better than she had thought possible and was wishing that she had worn a more becoming gown.

The Regent was obviously impatient for the guests to leave the table and this meant that they did so in record time. According to the custom the guests strolled about Carlton House admiring the latest acquisitions, and the Regent took this opportunity to draw Charlotte aside and hustle her into his drawing room.

‘Well,’ he demanded as soon as they were alone, ‘what is the verdict? What do you say?

She stared at the yellow silk walls. ‘Papa, I … I …’

He cried: ‘You are telling me it will not do. You were determined that it would not! It is for this reason that you came dressed in … mourning!’

His face had grown scarlet with anger; she could not bear it. She cried out: ‘No, no. You are mistaken. I like his manner. I like it very well … what I have seen of it.’

His face relaxed. She was seized and held against him. He turned and called: ‘Liverpool!’

Lord and Lady Liverpool who could not have been far off, came into the drawing room immediately.

‘My daughter has just made me the happiest man alive. You may congratulate her.’

Liverpool declared that he did so with all his heart. He was sure that the match would be blessed. He shared His Highness’s emotion, for he believed that the Princess had acted with good sense which would bring joy not only to herself but to the nation.

Charlotte opened her mouth to protest, but the Regent forestalled her. ‘Liverpool!’ he cried. ‘Bring Orange. I am so overcome by emotion. I declare I have never, never been so happy.’

Liverpool had already disappeared and Lady Liverpool was murmuring her congratulations. It was indeed wonderful she said that the Princess had chosen in such a way which so gratified His Highness her father. She was sure that her father’s pleasure must give her almost as great a happiness as that which would be hers with this most wise and virtuous Prince of Orange.

Orange arrived with Liverpool, bewildered but aware of what had happened. The rather aloof young woman in the purple satin had accepted him – and he was to be the consort of the future Queen of England.

The Regent immediately took the centre of the stage. He seized the hands of Charlotte and Orange.

‘There,’ he said, ‘my two dear children!’ He made Orange clasp Charlotte’s hand; the two young people looked at each other – Orange fearfully, Charlotte sullenly. ‘Happy, happy moment,’ cried the Regent. ‘I declare I feel young again. I am touched by the happiness of you two young people. Ah, Liverpool … and you, Clarence … you cannot guess my emotions at this moment! What a wonderful thing it is to be a parent and to be certain of a child’s future happiness.’

He went on in this strain, walking up and down, pausing every now and then to look at Orange and Charlotte, to smile at them, to weep, which he did all the time, in that expert manner so that the tears never fell from his eyes but were neatly despatched into the most exquisitely worked and delicately scented handkerchief.

It was his scene and he played it as only he could. No one else said very much.

We are like the furniture on the stage, thought Charlotte. We are only there to enhance his performance.

But she admired him. How she would have liked to be as he was. Only one who did not feel deeply could give such a display of deep affection.

Orange looked on with some astonishment. She hoped that he was admiring her father.

With perfect timing the Regent stopped his act and became statesmanlike.

‘The engagement shall not yet be made public,’ he said. ‘Her Majesty would be put out if she heard through any other means than by my special messenger. I think perhaps the Duke of York should take the news to her.’ He smiled charmingly at Clarence. ‘She would expect it from my eldest brother.’

Clarence said he would inform the Duke of York without delay.

‘And now,’ said the Regent expansively, ‘I think our betrothed young people might have an opportunity of sauntering through the rooms … alone.’

So they sauntered, shyly, wondering what to say to each other. The Regent’s display of eloquence had left them tongue tied.

‘I … I had expected you to be a little different,’ said Charlotte awkwardly, implying that he was not so bad as she had expected.

‘And I had thought you would be different from what you are.’

They smiled and suddenly it struck Charlotte that just as she had heard about the lack of charm of Slender Billy he had doubtless heard stories of her.

It struck her as funny and she burst out laughing, rather hysterical laughter, for it was very disconcerting to have made up one’s mind to refuse a suitor and then find oneself affianced to him.

But Orange was laughing.

Yes, thought Charlotte, he is not so bad.

And she began to feel better.

When she returned to Warwick House she would talk to no one. Louisa helped her out of the purple satin; Cornelia wanted to speak to her; but she was silent.

They were disturbed, knowing something had happened, but she refused to allow them to question her.

The next morning the Prince of Orange called at Warwick House.

When he was announced Charlotte said to Cornelia: ‘He is my betrothed.’