The Regent's Daughter: (Georgian Series) (47 page)

‘It is a quality I greatly admire in a man,’ said Charlotte.

‘My brother, the Tsar, has given him rank in our army. You should see him in his uniform. My dear, it would quite take your breath away.’

Charlotte was almost breathless contemplating the sight of godlike Leopold in the uniform of a Russian general.

‘My brother has a very high opinion of him and presented him on the battlefield with the cross of a Commander of the Military Order of St George.’

‘He is indeed a hero,’ said Charlotte wistfully.

But she was piqued when he did not call at Warwick House.

She had supposed he would accept her invitation without delay and had waited for him expectantly. Every time one of her household came to her, she had hoped that they would announce the arrival of Leopold.

How strange that he should have waited to conduct her to her carriage and then not accept her invitation!

Sometimes driving in the Park she would see him and he always endeavoured to ride near her carriage as though hoping she would notice him.

She did, of course, but she was not going to let him know this. She was hurt with him. She had offered an invitation and it had not been taken up. But if she was angry with him that did not mean she liked him any less.

He was constantly in her thoughts.

One day in the Park he rode near her carriage and lifting her eyes she looked straight into his. On impulse she ordered the coachman to stop.

‘Good day,’ she said coolly. ‘I wonder why, having received an invitation from me, you neglect it.’

Leopold looked startled. He was unused to such direct manners.

He said: ‘Your Highness, I did not understand that it was a formal invitation. I was under the impression that Your Highness was speaking lightly … and merely intended your comment as a kindly gesture.’

‘I always say what I mean.’ She was smiling for he was every bit as handsome as she had been thinking him – and he had scarcely been out of her thoughts since their first meeting.

Cornelia was apprehensive. Charlotte would never behave with necessary decorum. Did she not realize that they were being watched even now and it would very likely be reported to her father that she had been seen chatting in a very friendly manner with one of the insignificant princes of the Tsar’s suite.

Charlotte went on: ‘Well, you know now that I mean what I say, so I will say it again. I shall expect to see you at Warwick House.’

Leopold inclined his head and Charlotte instructed the coachman to drive on.

Cornelia said: ‘Was that wise?’

Charlotte turned on her in anger. ‘What do you mean –
wise
?’

‘To ask him to come to Warwick House. It was not in accordance with the usual …’

‘Oh Notte, you make me cross. Do stop carping. He will come this time. He won’t be able to avoid it.’

‘Have you realized that you have put him into a very awkward position?’

‘How absurd!’

‘Not absurd at all,’ said Cornelia. ‘The Prince of Saxe-Coburg cannot call at Warwick House unless he has permission from the Regent to do so.’

‘You forget that I am no longer a child. Warwick House is my residence and I shall ask whom I please.’

‘If he called without your father’s permission he could be sent out of the country.’

‘Stuff!’ said Charlotte, and she added: ‘And nonsense too.’

But she was not really angry because she was so looking forward to seeing him.

Leopold’s feelings were very mixed as he rode off and went back to his rooms over a greengrocer’s shop in Marylebone which was all that had been available for him. She was an enchanting creature this Princess Charlotte and obviously interested in him; and her interest made him think of a most exciting possibility. But was it possible? The Duchess Catherine had told him that Charlotte was betrothed to the Prince of Orange and if that were so she was not free. Moreover, would they consider a humble prince of Saxe-Coburg as suitable?

Why not? His family was a noble one; Orange was a sickly creature by all accounts and Charlotte did not like him. Whereas she was naïve enough not to hide her interest in Leopold. Clearly she liked him very much indeed.

Ever since their first meeting he had been turning over in his mind the possibility of calling at Warwick House as she had suggested. How could he who had been brought up in the strict German manner commit such a breach of court etiquette – even though the Princess asked it? If he called without her father’s consent he would never be forgiven.

He was ambitious – and there was something more which influenced him. She
was
charming; and he would have to marry one day. The future Queen of England! He felt almost giddy at the prospect. But it was hopeless. Nothing was hopeless. What about Orange? Something which had glinted in the Grand Duchess Catherine’s eyes when she talked of Charlotte’s future had made him feel that Orange might not be an obstacle after all. Catherine was one of the cleverest women he knew and fortunately she did not dislike him; and for some reason she would like to substitute another bridegroom for Orange.

How could she – a visitor to this land – alter the plans which the rulers had laid down for their princess? And yet …

Leopold was aware of his good looks. There were not many princes who were tall, slim and handsome, brave, serious and Protestant.

What a chance! What a dizzy prospect! He could not spoil it right at the start by behaving in a manner which would make that important gentleman, that arbiter of manners, the Prince Regent, dismiss him as a boor.

There was the Duke of York, affable, approachable, always ready to help a good soldier. Suppose he told the Duke of York of his predicament and asked his advice. The idea was an excellent one and he begged for an audience without delay.

The Duke received him with pleasure; he had heard of his exploits in the army and congratulated him on his decoration by the Tsar.

Leopold then told the reason for his call and begged the Duke of York to tell him what he should do.

The Duke stuck out his heavy jaw thoughtfully. ‘There is only one thing you can do, my dear fellow,’ he said, ‘and that is to write to the Regent, tell him what has happened and request his permission to call on the Princess.’

‘It is what I thought should be done,’ replied Leopold, ‘and I will lose no time in doing it.’

The Regent stormed up and down his study. The impertinence! This penniless fellow from Saxe-Coburg – a younger son of an insignificant House – craved his indulgence and asked to be allowed to call on the Princess Charlotte. He felt it his duty to inform the Regent that he had received an invitation to visit the Princess. She had become aware of him when at the Pulteney Hotel, whither he had been to wait on his kinswoman the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg. He had encountered the Princess Charlotte there and begged to be allowed to conduct her to her carriage. It was then that he had received the invitation which he hesitated to accept without the Regent’s consent.

‘And I should hope not!’ cried the Regent. ‘So he would call on my daughter! And for what purpose do princes call on princesses? Charlotte is a minx and she is trying to elude her responsibilities. Orange must come back and she must be married without delay. As for Master Leopold, he can return whence he came for he is certainly not going to Warwick House.’

He called for writing materials and penned a courteous note to Leopold. He was sure the Prince would understand that he could not give him permission to call on the Princess Charlotte. With clever innuendo he suggested that in view of the fact that Leopold had become involved in a rather embarrassing situation the best way of extricating himself from it would be for him to leave the country. He was sure it could be arranged
graciously and he knew that Leopold would agree with him.

That settled Leopold.

The Regent sent a message to the Prince of Holland telling him that it would be wise for him to return to England without delay.

Those matters settled, he next sent a message for Miss Knight, telling her that her presence was required at Carlton House.

Miss Knight came with much apprehension. Charlotte’s behaviour had been no credit to her lady companions and because Charlotte ignored the Duchess of Leeds and had made Cornelia her friend, she, Cornelia, would be the one who must take the blame for that indecorous conduct.

The Regent received her as soon as she arrived and his cool manner alarmed her. She who was usually calm and in full possession of her wits very frequently came near to losing them in his presence. He could be so regal and change so quickly; at one moment he made her feel that he regarded her as a wise friend and in the next that he despised her for a bungling fool. It was all done by the lift of an eyebrow, a gesture of the hand, the intonation of that very musical voice. He was a great actor who always played the part he intended to without giving anyone any doubt of his intentions.

‘Miss Knight,’ (not ‘my dear Chevalier’ which would have meant he felt kindly towards her), ‘I am disturbed.’ He looked at her reproachfully to set the scene. She was responsible for his disturbed feelings.

‘I am indeed sorry, Sir.’

‘Yes, yes. But this will not do. The Princess Charlotte has been placed in your care … and that of the Duchess; and it grieves me that she should behave in the way she does. This last escapade … this invitation to a most insignificant member of the Tsar’s entourage … Really, Miss Knight, how could she have come to be so lacking in what is required of her? She meets him on the
stairs
of an hotel … like … like a chambermaid. How came she to be on the stairs of an hotel? How could she in the company … unattended … of any young men who might care to accost her? It is beyond my understanding. But perhaps, Miss Knight, not beyond yours?’

He paused and she said nervously: ‘Sir, she was visiting the Duchess of Oldenburg …’

He interrupted pettishly: ‘There have been too many visits to the Duchess of Oldenburg. I do not wish these visits to continue.’

‘Does Your Highness wish them to be stopped completely?’

‘Not completely. We do not want an incident. You will agree with that, I hope, Miss Knight. But the visits are too frequent. I hear that the Princess sees the Duchess every day. That is most unseemly. They should not meet more than once a week. Soon our visitors will be leaving us but until they do I wish that the Princess Charlotte does not spend all her time in the company of the Duchess of Oldenburg. You will see to that, Miss Knight.’

‘Indeed yes, Sir. And if the Prince of Saxe-Coburg should call at Warwick House … what are your instructions?’

‘The Prince of Saxe-Coburg will
not
call at Warwick House. I have made my wishes clear to him. He had the grace to write to tell me what had happened. He will be preparing to leave the country at this very time.’

‘I see, Your Highness.’

He began to pace up and down. ‘And so, Miss Knight, I ask you to carry out my wishes and by so doing ensure that I am not further disturbed by these upheavals which to a father …’ he paused as though considering whether a tear was necessary and decided that a husky note in the voice was more suited to the occasion … ‘can be most upsetting. You may go now.’

‘Well,’ said Charlotte, ‘what was that about?’

‘Your father is very displeased. He knows that you invited the Prince of Saxe-Coburg here and he thinks that reprehensible.’

‘How did he know? Someone must have told him. I am spied on. I tell you I won’t be spied on!’

‘It was Leopold himself who told the Prince.’

‘Leopold!’

‘Oh, yes, he thought he should ask permission to call before doing so.’

Hot colour flooded into Charlotte’s cheeks.

‘He didn’t!’

‘The Prince Regent told me that he did. He said he had a letter from him to the effect that he had met you at the Pulteney and handed you into your carriage and that you then invited him to call at Warwick House.’

‘I don’t believe it.’

Miss Knight shrugged her shoulders.

‘It’s not true, is it?’ begged Charlotte.

‘Why should your father say so if it were not? How should he know of it?’

‘I shall ask Leopold when he comes.’

‘He won’t come. He is leaving the country.’

‘No!’

‘On the Regent’s request. And your visits to the Duchess are to be considerably curtailed.’

‘I won’t have it,’ declared Charlotte. And then: ‘So he wrote to my father. He
asked
permission to call. The man’s an idiot.’

Miss Knight was smiling complacently and Charlotte could have slapped her. She wanted to burst into tears; she wanted to sob out her misery; but she wasn’t going to show Cornelia how deeply she felt.

So she railed against Leopold.

‘What a ninny! He asks permission. So he has gone away, has he? He won’t come to Warwick House? Well, I’m glad, I tell you. Let him stay away. I never want to see him again.’

The dismissal of Orange

IT WAS RIDICULOUS
to feel so wretched over a man to whom she had scarcely spoken and who should be so timid that he must ask her father’s permission before calling; but she did. She was however, not going to allow anyone to know it.

She pretended to be excited about the banquet which her father was giving to the foreign visitors at Carlton House.

‘Come,’ she said to Louisa, ‘make me beautiful – if that’s possible.’

‘It’s the easiest thing in the world,’ declared the fond Louisa.

Had he thought her beautiful? Attractive? Evidently not attractive enough to risk her father’s displeasure for her sake!

‘Feathers, Louisa. Yes, feathers. They are so becoming. And what dignity they give. I need it. I think I am lacking more in dignity than in beauty. Don’t deny it, Louisa. And my silver tissue dress … the one trimmed with silver lace and embroidered in lamé. You know the one.’

Louisa knew it and she exclaimed with delight as she dressed her volatile young mistress in it. ‘If Your Highness could stand a little more still it would be easier. Feathers take such fixing.’

And the result – enchanting! But Master Leopold would not be there to see it. ‘Coward!’ murmured Charlotte.