Alone in their bedroom she said to him, "I must talk of this. I fear it upsets you, but I have our children to think of.”

George was mute, his features set in lines of abject melancholy.

"Who performed the ceremony when you married Hannah Lightfoot?”

"Dr. Wilmot," he said.

"Dr. Wilmot!" The name was not unfamiliar. He had been one of the Court chaplains. She must discover more of this man.

While she pondered this an idea came to her. What if she arranged an entertainment ... a court entertainment and there was a masque in which two people were married. It could seem like a mock ceremony, but they could say the necessary words. Everything that was essential could be performed. And the two chief players would be the King and Queen. It was fantastic; but then so was the whole story.

A masque ... when neither she nor the King cared for masques. Why not a quiet ceremony in the chapel at Kew? No. Quiet ceremonies had a way of being discovered. That would make it too serious. A masque was the idea with everyone looking on ... and herself and the King and the priest ... disguised in a domino.

The idea was forming shape. It is the only way, she thought. Dr. Wilmot should be the priest.

Whom else could she trust? He knew of the marriage so therefore there would be no one else in the secret. And then she could be sure that she was married to the King, if only at this late date.

And if George and Fred were bastards, the new child would not be.

"A fete. A Court masque!" The words were whispered in astonishment. The Queen is being gay at last. Who would have believed it... and another little one on the way! The Queen had announced that she and the King were devising a spectacle in which they were going to play a prominent part. The theme would be the glorification of marriage.

"That sounds a little more like them," grinned Elizabeth Chudleigh to the frivolous Marchioness.

"I'll swear there'll be prayers and hymns of praise. And then we shall all have to declare ourselves ready to follow the good example of conjugal bliss set by their Majesties.”

Still, a fete was a fete and everyone agreed that any fete was better than none at all. The King had been keeping to his apartments lately and was seeing very little of people, even his ministers.

They found him abstracted and his behaviour a little odd.

The Princess Dowager told Lord Bute, when he came to her quietly in a closed carriage, that she was anxious about George, who was behaving strangely. She was sure this absurd fete was Charlotte's idea and that they would have to be even more watchful of her.”

"She is pregnant," Bute reminded the Princess, 'and pregnant women get odd fancies.”

The Princess grunted. "We'll be watchful," she said. "Madam Charlotte could get out of hand.”

On the evening of the fete there was a banquet and dancing; and a troupe of dancers dressed as brides and their grooms performed before the company. The highlight of the evening was when the King and Queen standing on a dais apart from the rest of the company actually went through a form of marriage with one of the company disguised as a priest. There was some surprise that this was considered in good taste since the words of the marriage ceremony were actually spoken.

"Poor George," was the comment, 'he has no humour at all if he thinks this is the way to amuse his guests. As for Charlotte, she's as bad ... or even worse. A dull pair.”

The King and Queen sat apart from their guests both looking solemn. Elizabeth Chudleigh commented: "Now if we had the old putting-the-pair-to-bed ceremony that would enliven things a little.”

But of course there were no such frivolities at the Court of George and Charlotte. The odd thing was that they should have thought to entertain the company by a mock marriage between the most stolidly married couple in the kingdom. The company danced and feasted again and forgot the oddities of the King and Queen. And Charlotte at least felt comforted by that evening's entertainment.

When a few days later Mr. George Grenville called on the King he found George sitting at his desk, his head in his hand, and he refused to look up when Grenville entered.

"Your Majesty ..." began Grenville; but still the King sat there.

"Is anything wrong? George lowered his hands; his face was very red; and suddenly he burst into tears.

"Your Majesty is ill.”

George did not deny it. Grenville immediately sent for the King's doctors. The doctors were in consultation with Grenville and a few of the King's top ministers.

"What ails him?" asked Grenville.

"His mind seems to be affected. He does not speak coherently; he is overcome by some sort of melancholy, some unnatural fear of disaster.”

"Good God," cried Grenville. "You don't mean he's mad.”

"He is decidedly disturbed," said Sir William Duncan, one of the chief doctors.

"This is disaster. The Prince of Wales is not yet three. It will mean a Regency.”

"Come, sir. You go too fast. He has a violent chill, and there is a rash on his chest. This may be the delirium of passing fever.”

Grenville looked relieved. "But this must be kept a secret until we are sure.”

The doctors agreed with this; and Grenville said that either the Queen or the Princess Dowager should be informed, and perhaps they should choose the Princess Dowager as the Queen was pregnant.

The Princess was stunned. "This is terrible," she cried. "George ... deranged ... and the Prince not yet three years old. Leave me. I will see you later. I must think about this.”

And as soon as she was alone she sent an urgent message to Lord Bute. He came at once, and she told him what the doctors had told her.

"He has been acting strangely lately. What does Charlotte say?”

"Charlotte does not know. The news was brought to me and I have given orders that she shall not be told.”

"But she is the Queen.”

The Princess shrugged her shoulders. "It is better that she does not know, until we have decided what should be done. I have said that because of her condition it is better for her to be told that the King is suffering from a chill and a fever and no one but his doctors must be with him for fear it is contagious.”

Bute was struck by her calm. She did not waste time on sympathy for the King. She was immediately planning what effect his illness would have on the Crown, and who would be at hand to become the power in the land. The Princess Dowager was determined that she should be the one. Therefore the Queen was a menace, and the Queen should be kept in the dark.

"I shall give orders at once," she said, 'that Charlotte shall not be told the nature of his illness; moreover, I shall ensure that Charlotte does not see him.”

At Richmond with her children Charlotte received a message from her mother-in-law which told her that the King was suffering from a violent chill and fever. The doctors believed that the Queen should not visit him as it might be infectious and she had the child she was carrying to consider.

She would be kept informed.

Charlotte thought: It is all this anxiety. The bickering ministers, the terrible lampoons about his mother and her lover. But in her heart she knew it was largely due to the Hannah Lightfoot affair.

But we are married now, she thought. And even if George and Frederick are bastards, the children we have in the future will not be.

During the weeks that followed Charlotte was in a state of anxiety; at times she thought of ignoring the Princess's orders and going to see the King to tell him not to worry. They were married now, for that which had taken place under the guise of a masque was a true ceremony.

She had Dr. Wilmot's assurance on it. He must forget the past; he must never go to see his son by Hannah Lightfoot; he must forget that indiscretion of his youth and all would be well. She went to her nursery to see the children. Young George, a very handsome child, was already aware of his importance. He knew he was Prince of Wales and his nurses were indulgent to him and he had already been informed that he would one day be king. He was so bright, so precocious, so interested in everything - a perfect boy.

"Where is Papa?" he asked. "Why does he not come to see me?”

"He will, my darling. As soon as he is able.”

The little boy thought it strange that his father should be so dilatory in giving himself the pleasure of seeing the little Prince of Wales whom everyone adored. Somewhere, thought Charlotte, there is another boy, who may be calling himself the Prince of Wales. But no, he would not dare!

Hannah would have seen to that. She had been a sensible woman and she must have loved George to give him up as she did. She tried to soothe herself, but as the weeks passed, she began to feel apprehensive about the nature of George's illness since she was not allowed to see him.

The King's health improved and Charlotte was with him again. She was shocked by the change in him. His youth had gone forever. He had a nervous way of speaking, repeating sentences and asking impatiently "What? What?" before one had time to answer.

Charlotte talked to him of the children and that comforted him to some extent. She said not a word of the masque and the ceremony through which they had gone. She determined that never again if she could help it would she mention Hannah Lightfoot's name. Hannah was dead; Charlotte and George had been remarried however oddly and even though Charlotte refused to admit that that second strange ceremony had been necessary, she was very relieved that it had taken place.