Queen of Bedlam
Page 30
Royal gazed at the bare trees, remembering her mother. Every trace of her would blow away with the dead November leaves. Her servants, her dogs, her music. Nothing left but the sad princesses and a twilight King.
The fountain tinkled gently. Instinctively, Royal’s hand strayed to the locket at her neck. Fritz in one side, the King in the other. Both far beyond her reach. She unwound the chain from her neck and popped the locket open. Her father’s portrait had faded with age. She ran a thumb over it, remembering.
What would become of him without the Queen? His small remnant of royal dignity must evaporate. Parliament would not pay to keep a madman in style – even one who devoted his life to the nation. He would live out a shadowy existence, blind, deaf and lame. In essence, he was already dead.
At least her father wouldn’t endure the torture of losing a spouse. He was safe from the world in his own delusions. There would be no washing of the body for him; no dressing of the corpse, no walking round the coffin as it lay in state, a gilt crown resting at its head, with candles lighting the waxy, dead skin.
Royal closed her eyes to the winter sunlight and said a prayer for Fritz’s soul. She missed him, on days like this, sitting in the gardens he made for her. But she had no cause for complaint. Wilhelm was in charge, the land was recovering from many years of war and the people, Royal’s people, remembered she had been there through it all.
The palace door closed and Royal looked up from her devotions. Footmen marched across the gardens to take her back inside. Her body, never blessed with another child, had run to fat. She could not walk on her own and needed them to carry her on a chair with four poles.
She kissed the locket and clasped it back around her neck.
She would have young ones clamouring around her the moment she entered the palace. Paul and Wilhelm’s children loved her more than their own mothers.
The men closed in and heaved up her chair, raising her aloft in the cool air. She bobbed along above the box hedge, surveying her beautiful land. There was no reason to despair. The time for regret was over. She had a palace full of joy and affection just waiting for her to enter it. She needed to move on.
The King and Queen may be gone, but they would live on through Royal: a blend of their passion, of their love. They gave her the gift of life; she owed it to them to live a full one. Free.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In retelling the story of Charlotte, Royal and Sophia I have mingled fact, speculation and fiction. In some cases I have moved events forward or backward to aid the narrative flow.
George III survived Charlotte by less than two years. He suffered a massive fit around Christmas 1819 that left him unable to sleep or eat. He died aged 81 on 29 January 1820. Medical historians now believe that he suffered either from bipolar disorder or acute porphyria, a hereditary metabolic condition. His physical symptoms make the later more likely.
Royal visited England one last time in 1827 for an emotional reunion with her surviving siblings. Massively overweight with gout in her feet and hands, she made a slow progress through her native land before returning to Württemberg. She died just one year after her return. Her adopted grandchildren were present at her death and showed the depth of their affection by refusing to leave her body. Royal always refuted the claims that her husband ill-treated her, but accounts from English ministers and Napoleon suggest she was lying. Given Fritz’s violent relationship with his first wife, Augusta, I suspect there was some abuse in his second marriage. However, this did not change the couple’s love for one another.
Sophia proved a true friend to young Charlotte up until the girl’s tragic death in 1819. Her affection then moved on to another niece, Victoria, and her mother the Duchess of Kent. Always swayed by a handsome face, Sophia soon fell under the spell of the infamous Sir John Conroy. She purchased him several residences, but at least her investment was repaid by Conroy’s support in later years. She was sorely tried by Tommy Garth’s continual demands for a royal annuity and threats that he would publish documents revealing the truth about his birth. She lived the last few years of her life blind, partially deaf and unable to move from her seat without being carried.
Although there are historians who reject the idea that Sophia gave birth to an illegitimate child, I believe Tommy Garth was her son. It is certainly worth noting the speed with which the royal family were willing to pay him off. That Sophia had an affair with General Garth and exchanged rings is clear from her correspondence, although the suggestion she considered the relationship as a marriage is my own. It seems likely, however, given the family’s religious nature and Sophia’s own protestations of innocence, that promises were made. The rumour that Ernest fathered Tommy would follow Sophia to the grave. It is an interesting and deliciously scandalous theory, but one I believe is false. Though Ernest was certainly a rake by contemporary standards, it seems all too probable that the rumours were vicious whispers from his many political enemies.
Laura Purcell, 2014
www.laurapurcell.com
ABOUT LAURA PURCELL
Laura Purcell lives in Colchester, England’s oldest recorded town. She met her husband while working in a bookshop and they share their home with several guinea pigs.
She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, The Society for Court Studies and Historical Royal Palaces. She appeared on the PBS documentary: The Secrets of Henry VIII’s Palace, discussing Queen Caroline’s life at Hampton Court.
Her novels explore the lives of royal women during the Georgian era, who have largely been ignored by modern history.
Laura writes a history blog at www.laurapurcell.com
Coming soon . . .
LAURA PURCELL’S
Mistress of the Court
Orphaned and trapped in an abusive marriage, Henrietta Howard has little left to lose. She stakes everything on a new life in Hanover with its royal family, the heirs to the British throne.
Henrietta’s beauty and intelligence soon win her the friendship of clever Princess Caroline and her mercurial husband Prince George. But as time passes, it becomes clear that friendship is the last thing on the hot-blooded young prince’s mind. Dare Henrietta give into his advances and anger her violent husband? Dare she refuse?
Whatever George’s shortcomings, Princess Caroline is determined to make the family a success. Yet the feud between her husband and his obstinate father threatens all she has worked for. As England erupts in Jacobite riots, her family falls apart. She vows to save the country for her children to inherit – even if it costs her pride and her marriage.
Set in the turbulent years of the Hanoverian accession, Mistress of the Court tells the story of two remarkable women at the centre of George II’s reign.
978-1-910183-07-6 Paperback
978-1-910183-08-3 Ebook