The romance of Princess Amelia, daughter of George III (1783-1810) including extracts from private and unpublished papers

Preface

While a study, drawn from original sources, representing the character, habits and surroundings of an English Princess who died a hundred years ago, may fairly be considered as a contribution to domestic history, it seems peculiarly appropriate on the centenary of the death of the amiable Princess Amelia to tell the true story of her life, and of her attachment to General Charles FitzRoy, if only to clear away misconceptions which have gathered around her memory, and to rebut certain slanders which recently have been revived.

The love-affair of this Princess was concealed by her family, as far as possible, from the world at the time of her death. She herself appears to have gloried in her innocent attachment, and certainly by the terms of her will desired to make her betrothal a matter of public knowledge. The suppression of her testamentary wishes by her family at the time of her death was, to say the least, ill-judged. Gossip and scandal were not the less busy with her name. Even to this day some, apparently, confound her

Preface

story with that of less innocent members of her family ; others have actually gone so far as to assert that they knew her " descendants."

Extracts from letters of Princess Amelia's intimate friend the Honourable Mrs. George Villiers, mother of the fourth Earl of Clarendon (published for the first time in this volume), completely refute the calumnies to which we allude; while the original letters of Princess Amelia herself to General Fitz- Roy (also published for the first time) are the outpourings from the heart of a romantic girl whom fate has cruelly withheld from her lover — the chivalrous lover who she fondly hopes will some day become her acknowledged husband. Moreover, with these letters, certain papers expressing the dying wishes of the Princess indisputably assert the innocence of her attachment. All these last-mentioned letters and papers, written during the first decade of the nineteenth century, and treasured by General FitzRoy, were, on his decease, preserved by the lady whom he married some years after the death of the Princess. Mrs. FitzRoy bequeathed them to her sister the late Lady Wensleydale; and on the death of the latter they passed to her daughter the late Honourable Mrs. William Lowther.

Mrs. Lowther wished the story of Princess Amelia

to be published, and asked the author of this memoir

to write it. It may be added that without her vi

Preface

encouragement throughout, the work would never have been accomplished. He desires to express his gratitude to the memory of Mrs. Lowther; also to the memory of Lady Leigh (born Lady Caroline Amelia Grosvenor), who contributed, during the progress of the book, valuable information and suggestions. His thanks are especially due to Mrs. Ernest Farquhar for supplying extracts from the papers of her father the late Sir T. Villiers Lister (notably a letter from Mrs. Farquhar's great - grandmother the above - mentioned Mrs. Villiers, addressed to her daughter Lady Theresa Lewis); also to the Honourable Mrs. R. C. Boyle (known in art and literature as " E. V. B."), whose grandmother Lady Albinia Cumberland was a lady-in-waiting to the Princesses daughters of George HL Several letters written to or by Lady Albinia Cumberland, together with a remarkable contemporary diary giving an account of the death of Princess Amelia and the circumstances which accompanied it, are from Mrs. Boyle's papers.

Vll

Chapter I Pagb

Two Amelias contrasted — Sensitive character of our heroine — Her pure romance — Unromantic surroundings — Her elder sisters — Mr. Wilkins's character of Queen Charlotte — George HI compared with Charlemagne — The Princess Royal's unromantic courtship — Late marriages of the Princesses Elizabeth and Mary — Allusions to Princess Augusta and Princess Sophia ......... 17

CHAPTER H

Birth of Princess Amelia — A bright glimpse of childhood — The King's first mental illness in 1788 — A melancholy incident at Kew — Conduct of the Prince of Wales — King's recovery — Public rejoicings — Little Amelia and dear papa — The governesses — Princess Royal's superintendence ...... 28

CHAPTER HI

1797-1798

Amelia's early development — Personal appearance — Her physician — Sir Lucas Pepys — ^Cuppings and bleedings — Visit to Worthing — Amelia's letters to Lady Albinia Cumberland — This lady confounded with Lady Almeria Carpenter — Richard Cumberland the dramatist — His verses — A visit to Juniper Hill — Fanny Burney's description — Amelia's Confirmation — Her love for her father ..... 36

viii

CHAPTER IV

PAGE

Royal troubles — Visit to Weymouth — In charge of Miss Gomme — General FitzRoy in attendance — His birth and appearance — ** Prince Charles " — His early years — Frederick the Great's attentions — His note to FitzRoy — The Duchess of Brunswick's allusions to FitzRoy — 'His good heart — Rides with Princess Amelia — Their attachment . . . . • 5^

CHAPTER V

1802-1803

Miss Gomme 's confidences — Miss Golds worthy — Deaf as a post — Princess Mary — Ameha's distress — Writes to her mother — Queen Charlotte's letters to Amelia — ^Amelia's letter to her mother— To Princess Mary 57

CHAPTER VI

The Queen's attitude — Aware of the attachment — Takes

no heed — Rigid etiquette ...... 68

CHAPTER VII

A tender letter — Attitude of the brothers and sisters . "jz

CHAPTER VIII

Amelia's illness — Princess Augusta's commiseration — Amelia's directions to FitzRoy in case of death — Recovery — Gratitude for kindness — Harcourt Papers quoted ......... 7^

ix

CHAPTER IX

PAGE

The King's temporary return of insanity — Jesse's Memoirs quoted — Mrs. George Villiers — Her letter to Lady Theresa Lewis — Vilhers-Lister Papers — Mrs. Villiers 's intimacy with the Royal Family — A melancholy time — The King's outbursts of fatuity — Drives and rides at Kew — The King harangues Harrow boys — Devotion of the Princesses to their father — Princess Sophia's confidences — Princess Amelia and FitzRoy — The King's attitude . . 82

CHAPTER X

Weymouth — Disunion in the Royal Family — The visit to Cufifnells — Princess Amelia's fall — The King's behaviour — The return to Windsor — Lord Auckland's correspondence quoted . . . . .90

CHAPTER XI

A Court concert in London — " Improvements " at Windsor Castle — Court festivities — Letter of Princess Mary to Lady Albinia Cumberland — The King's fondness for children — Princess Amelia's age — The Royal Marriage Act — Anticipations of marriage — "A. F. R."— FitzRoy 's conduct honourable . . 96

CHAPTER XII

Inmates of Windsor Castle — News of Trafalgar — Current affairs — Amelia's letters to Mrs. Villiers — Illness of Pitt, January 1806 — Doctors "all mad" — Dr. Farquhar stops Pitt's wine — Pitt's death — "The Dear" oppressed but calm — Routine at Windsor 103

CHAPTER XIII

STOKE BRUERNE

PAGE

Amelia's visit to Stoke Bruerne — The home of the Wentworth-Vernons— Destruction in 1886— Some interesting relics — Princess Amelia the First — Her character contrasted — Her liaison — Her Woman of the Chamber — Sixty years later — The younger Amelia — Curious tradition respecting her — Her miniature at Stoke Bruerne 1^4

CHAPTER XIV

Snuff-taking— Two love-letters — From A. F. R. to C. F. R. — Lord Bagot's marriage— A watch and chain to be mended— A " repeater "—" My side of the carriage "—The Queen's tool— *' The Dear " too kingly to pity— A boring party — ''I really must marry you" .....••• 121

CHAPTER XV 1807 (continued) Family intrigues— The Duke of Sussex's affectionate letter— Prudence to be the watchword — Cheltenham Waters — Mysterious allusions — Mary Anne Gaskoin — ^Mrs. Villiers's letter again quoted — The other Princesses' attitude — Mrs. Villiers declines to interfere 127

CHAPTER XVI 1807 (continued) Queen Charlotte's description—" La bande contente "— Miss Gomme's bomb— The Queen "outrageous"— Amelia's agitation— Her letter to FitzRoy— Enters the Duke of York— Elizabeth's part— The Queen's position — Defence of Amelia i33

CHAPTER XVII

1807 (continued) Queen Charlotte's letter to Amelia— Counsels of perfection—The governesses again— Amelia's despera-

xi

PAGE

tion — Mrs. Villiers's advice — Amelia's devotion to her father — Her sacrifice 144

CHAPTER XVni 1807 (continued)

Amelia appeals to FitzRoy — A letter of the Duke of York — Lady Georgiana Buckley's threats — Her revengeful disposition— Lady Matilda Wynyard — Her "truthful integrity" — Princess Mary — Preparations for Holy Communion — Amelia's forgiveness ......... 150

CHAPTER XIX

Amelia's benevolence — Protection of orphans — Hone's Every Day Book quoted— Amelia's letter to an orphan— Her interest in other children— A letter to Lady Harcourt quoted — Augusta d'Este — Letter from the Duke of Clarence — George FitzClarence — Amelia's expenses — Borrows from FitzRoy — Mrs. Villiers's counsels . . . . . . -159

CHAPTER XX

Was the King "got at "?— Amelia's "late father"— The King's condition — The Prince of Wales her only hope — His professions of sympathy — Amelia's gradual decline — Her touching legacy of wishes — Mrs. Villiers's letter to her brother — "Le medecin touchant " — Allusions to " Jodeley " — A copy of the Royal Marriage Act — Amelia writes to the Prince of Wales and the Lord Chancellor — Reasons for waiting — The "sacred vow of marriage" . . .170

CHAPTER XXI

The affair of the Duke of York and Mrs. Clarke —

Unhappiness of the Royal Family . . . .185

CHAPTER XXII

PAGE

A change of physicians — Dr. Pope — The Queen's obstruction — The Prince of Wales insists — The Queen stops Mrs. VilHers's visits — Mrs. Villiers wins the day — AmeHa's alarming state — "The Queen's stupid birthday " 189

CHAPTER XXIII

1809 {continued)-i8io

A temporary rally — Disappointed hopes— More "last wishes " sealed— A last visit to Weymouth — Return to Windsor — The Queen's harshness — Princess Mary's kindness — Prince of Wales's effusive letter — Duke of York's letter— The King's letters— The Princess of Wales's gossip I97

CHAPTER XXIV

Mistaken supposition of Princess Amelia's marriage — Mrs. VilHers's important statement— Contradiction of reports — Character of Amelia vindicated — Her own significant words— Dying letter to FitzRoy — Statement as to will 210

CHAPTER XXV

The King's absorbing anxiety — His interviews with his daughter — His religious conversation— FitzRoy secretly admitted to the dying Princess— Princess Augusta's connivance — Mary Anne Gaskoin's letter 218

CHAPTER XXVI

1810 (October and November)

Miss Cornelia Knight quoted— Princess Augusta's gift- Amelia presents her father with a ring — " Remember

xiii me " — Effect on the King — Amelia's death — Princess Mary's note to FitzRoy — AmeHa's last words — Miss Cumberland's memoranda — Details of death — Conduct of the family — Funeral arrangements — Dr. Meadows non-existent — Amelia's consideration of others — Her touching prayer — Verses supposed to be by Princess Amelia ...... 224

CHAPTER XXVH

The King's condition — Selects the Anthem — Funeral by torchlight — Account of the ceremony — Feeling throughout the country — Elegies on the Princess — Death of Mary Anne Gaskoin — Her epitaph . .238

CHAPTER XXVni

The will — ^How to evade it — FitzRoy to resign — A flattering interview — " A fraternal hug " — Insincere promises — FitzRoy consents — Mrs. Villiers's account —FitzRoy "pillaged" 250

CHAPTER XXIX

1810-1811

Suspicions confirmed — Promises unkept — The snuff-box and picture — Disposal of the diamonds — A list of them — Debt to FitzRoy unpaid — He receives nothing of value — Counsel's opinion ..... 262

CHAPTER XXX

Conclusion

A tactful physician — " A Lady of Quality " quoted^ — Published notices of the will — The Prince Regent's tears — Lady Albinia Cumberland's account of the King's madness in 181 1 — A touching memento of the King — Sir Herbert Taylor's letter to FitzRoy — FitzRoy marries — His widow's bequests — Mrs, W. Lowther's relics of Princess Amelia — Concluding remarks . 276 xiv

PAGE

LADY ALBINIA CUMBERLAND'S CORRESPONDENCE

1. On the appointment of Lady Albinia as a Lady-in-

Waiting to the Princesses— The Lady Jane Dundas

to the Lady Albinia Cumberland . . • .286

2. The wedding of the Princess Royal with the Prince of

Wiirtemberg— H.R.H. Princess Sophia to the Lady Albinia Cumberland 288

3. The same occasion— H.R.H. Princess Mary to the

Lady Albinia Cumberland 288

4. A party of the Duke of York— H.R.H. Princess Eliza-

beth to the Lady Albinia Cumberland . • .289

5. Allusions to H.R.H. Princess Charlotte— The Lady

Albinia Cumberland to her daughter Albinia, Mrs. Alexander Gordon of Ellon 291

6. A letter already quoted 293

7 On the death of Miss Harriet Cumberland— Extract of

letter from H.R.H. Princess Mary to the Lady Albinia Cumberland 294

8 The reduction of the salaries of the Ladies-in-Waiting

—Extract of letter from H.R.H. Princess Mary to

the Lady Albinia Cumberland 294

Q. The wedding of Princess Mary and the Duke of Gloucester— The Lady Albinia Cumberland to her daughter Albinia ....••• 296

APPENDIX II The Royal Marriage Act 299

APPENDIX III

A list of the different articles allotted to the different individuals by the executors of the late Prmcess Amelia 3^2

APPENDIX IV Counsel's opinion of General FitzRoy's case . . .305

Index 3°^

XV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

To face page GENERAL THE HONOURABLE CHARLES FITZROY Frontispiece {From a Miniature in the possession of the late Honourable Mrs. William Lowther)

(From a Painting at Windsor)

I

{From a Painting by Sir William Beechey)

{From a Miniature at Stoke Bruerne in the possession of

B. Wentworth- Vernon, Esquire) ,

{From a Painting by Sir William Beechey)

{From a Painting by Sir William Beechey)

{From a Painting by Andrew Robertson)

XVI

CHAPTER I

TWO AMELIAS CONTRASTED — SENSITIVE CHARACTER OF OUR HEROINE HER PURE ROMANCE UNROMANTIC SURROUND- INGS—HER ELDER SISTERS— MR. WILKINS's CHARACTER OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE GEORGE HI COMPARED WITH CHARLE- MAGNE—THE PRINCESS royal's UNROMANTIC COURTSHIP- LATE MARRIAGES OF THE PRINCESSES ELIZABETH AND MARY —ALLUSIONS TO PRINCESS AUGUSTA AND PRINCESS SOPHIA.

**With all the virtues blest and every grace, To charm the world and dignify her race."

-—Peter Pindar: "Elegy on Princess Amelia," Gentleman's Magazine, 1810.

It might seem unnecessary to point out that the

heroine of this memoir, Princess AmeHa, the sixth

daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte,

should not be confounded with her strong-minded

great-aunt and godmother Princess Amelia,

daughter of George II. Yet a portrait of the elder

Princess has lately been reproduced as a portrait

of the younger. They were as dissimilar ^ in their

1 The one feature which their histories have in common— their respective lovers were of the same name and familywill be noticed in due course.

persons as in their natures. The elder Ameha, who died in 1786 when her great-niece was a child of three, was noted for good sense of a robust and somewhat coarse quality, whereas "sensibility" rather than "sense" was perhaps the chief characteristic of the Amelia of our romance.

She was, however, of a resolute disposition, and although frail health had been her portion from childhood, it did not break her high spirit and gay humour, and she bore suffering with remarkable cheerfulness and fortitude.

But she was of a very sensitive nature, extremely grateful for kindness and sympathy; and was endowed with that pure quality of love which draws affection to itself and gives itself unselfishly in return. Of all her sisters, among whom we look in vain for a touch of pure romance, she alone seems to have had her young life gilded by its light, illumining the shadows of an otherwise sad and suffering lot. It may be contended — continuing the metaphor — that it was rather a flame which finally consumed her life. Be it so. But we believe, as we trace this love-story through its years of unsatisfied passion, that both Amelia and her chivalrous lover were persons of finer feeling and higher ideals than those by whom they were surrounded.

Save in this flower of the flock, never a trace of

idealism is discernible among the bevy of royal 18 brothers and sisters. Their honoured parents were indeed in their domestic aspect chiefly remarkable for a commonplace and bourgeois worthiness. All romance had died early in the King's life with his attachment to the fascinating Lady Sarah Lennox — perhaps we ought also to mention Hannah Lightfoot. Charlotte of Mecklenburg was assuredly not one to inspire romance. Mrs. Delany and Fanny Burney have left us charming pictures of the domestic habits of the King and Queen, but their somewhat unattractive virtues do not seem to have widely influenced the tone of fashionable society, from which they lived much aloof. With all their merits, alloyed as these were with certain unworthy qualities, they did not, as did their illustrious granddaughter Victoria the Great, impress the stamp of high ideals on their generation. Society retained its looseness with little of the modern veneer of decency, and saw nothing in the virtues of the King and Queen but matter for ridicule or contempt. Religion among the aristocracy was as yet confined to a few families, and pious persons were looked upon as bores or hypocrites, and dubbed opprobriously if vaguely " methodists." " She has turned methodist," was the usual comment on some lady who adopted a higher standard than the rest. Thus when the elder royal children came to years of discretion — or indiscretion — they found a world awaiting B 2 19 them only too eager to initiate them into a pleasanter and laxer view of things. The sons, g^rown to adolescence, were naturally eager to break loose from the monotonous boundaries of a strict and narrow home circle where, according to a reliable tradition, they were still constrained to do worstedwork, and, once free, were bent on indulging every selfish fancy without restraint.

As for the daughters : it is true that in regard to their persons and manners the five elder Princesses were all remarkably comely, fine young women, extremely pleasant and familiar with their inferiors in ordinary life, reserving grand airs for grand occasions (when, by the way, they could be extremely dignified); and their lively letters to Countess Harcourt (published among the Harcourt Papers) show them to have been in their early youth instinct with a fresh and healthy enjoyment of things.^ But

1 All the Princesses were excellent and even brilliant letter writers. The following extract from a letter of Princess Elizabeth to Lady Harcourt (Harcourt Papers^ Vol. VI.) shows an amusing aspect of the habits and tone of the fashionable world. "I enclose you," she writes, "a new vocabulary which has just come out " :

Vernacular terms

Fashionable sense

Age .

An infirmity nobody knows.

Conscience .

Something to swear by.

Country

A place for pigs and poultry

Day .

. Night.

Night .

Day.

Debt .

A necessary evil.

bored to death with their dull and restricted surroundings, and living in their separate lodgings at Windsor, cut off from the main building of the Castle (tradition records that they had to put on thick boots to cross the sloppy courts and alleys each time they were summoned to join their royal parents), some at least of the more lively of these Princesses contrived to elude the watchfulness of "mama." Certainly, as time went on, this was not difficult, for the Queen's thoughts became wholly engrossed by the King's health, and by the private anxieties and the political intrigues and squabbles which revolved around it. Indeed, poor Queen Charlotte seems to have wished to ignore anything of an undesirable nature lest it should cross her own sanctimonious path.

Vernacular terms. Fashionable sense.

Dining

Keeping up appearances.

Dinner

Supper.

Dressed

. Half naked.

London

The most delightful place.

Lounging

Daily occupation.

Modest

Sheepish.

New

Delightful.

Pay .

Only applied to visits.

Prayers

The cant of silly people.

Christianity

Having a pew in church.

Time .

Only applied to music.

Protection

Keeping a mistress.

Vice .

Only applied to horses.

Undress

Complete clothing.

Scandal

Amusing conversation.

Work .

A vulgarism."

The writer possesses a letter written to him by the late Mr. W. H. Wilkins, the historian of eighteenth-century Courts, in which he says : " It seems to me that from the time the King first lost his reason in 1788 and regained it in 1789 the one object of Queen Charlotte was to keep all agitating things from the King's knowledge. Self-interest dictated this as much as concern for the King's health. She and Pitt frequently concealed his real state of health from his sons; there is little doubt that he was frequently insane for short periods between 1789 and the final breakdown after Princess Amelia's death [in 18 10]. I doubt if she had any real love for any of her children, except perhaps her eldest son (and she quarrelled violently with him). She was quite indifferent about their happiness. In her life I find little trace of real religion, though texts were always on her lips. It is no merit that she was virtuous . . . for she could never have known temptation, and she was quite ready to wink at vice when it suited her purpose — her patronage of the notorious Lady Jersey for instance." ^

1 The letter is dated September 21, 1904. Mr. Wilkins was then engaged in writing a life of Queen Charlotte to follow the other books he had written on the House of Hanover, but unfortunately he had not completed it at the time of his lamented death, though he lived to publish George IV and Mrs. Fitzherbert. 22

The Princesses early acquired their notions of moraUty less from their virtuous parents, or from the worthiest of the many governesses who had been provided to superintend their education, than from certain matrons or maids-of -honour — or dishonour — with whom they came in contact, or from such glimpses of the outside world as they derived from their brothers. Our remarks apply to Amelia's sisters, the eldest of whom, the Princess Royal, was seventeen years old at the time of Amelia's birth; while the others were her seniors in varying degrees, Augusta by fifteen years, Elizabeth by thirteen, Mary by seven, and Sophia by five.

The elder Princesses, when they grew up, were most anxious that husbands should be found for them. But the attitude of the King was not encouraging. A reliable tradition records that the King positively "howled" whenever the subject of his daughters marrying was broached.

A strange historical parallel may be found between George III and Charlemagne in their domestic aspects ; indeed, Eginhard's account of the great German conqueror's family life may be quoted as an almost exact description of that of the English sovereign a thousand years later — in regard to the latter we speak, of course, of that period of his life which preceded the breakdown of his mental powers. " He was so careful in the bringing up of his sons and daughters," says the historian of Charlemagne/ "that when at home he never dined without them, and they always accompanied him on his journeys, his sons riding by his side and his daughters following close behind, attended by a train of servants appointed for that purpose. His daughters were very fair, and he loved them passionately. Strange to say, he would never consent to give them in marriage [George III gave only one of his daughters in marriage, and her very unwillingly] either to any of his own nation or to foreigners; but he kept them all at home and near his person at all times until his death, for he used to say that he could not deprive himself of their society. On account of this, although happy in all else, he here experienced the malignity of fortune ; but he concealed his vexation, and conducted himself as if they had never given rise to injurious suspicions, and as if no reports had ever gone abroad concerning them." ^

1 Eginhard's Life of Karl the Great, translated by W. Glaister, p. 70.

2 The above parallel was pointed out to the author by the late Lady Leigh (born Lady Caroline Amelia Grosvenor), who remembered hearing many interesting traditions about the Royal Family from her father Lord Westminster, whose grandfather the then Lord Wilton was intimate with George IIL "King George," wrote Lady Leigh, "used to spend his time in playing on the violoncello with Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Wilton, my great-grandfather, my grandmother [Lady Grosvenor] 's father." — Lady Leigh to W. Childe-Pemberton, September 6, 1904.

The appropriateness of the last sentence in illustrating the attitude of King George with regard to his daughters will be the more appreciated as we observe the disastrous results of this prohibition of matrimony.

Perhaps the unsettled state of Germany at the time of the French Revolution, and after it, made the selection of Protestant husbands difficult. However that may be, the early youth of the Princesses passed and they remained unwedded.

After many years of waiting the Princess Royal determined to arrange a marriage for herself. The Prince of Wiirtemberg was a widower and a Protestant, and therefore eligible. King George, it is said, secretly believing that the Prince would be unable to clear himself from certain suspicions connected with the death of his first wife, consented that, if he could do so, he should be allowed to become a suitor for the hand of the Princess Royal. The Prince completely succeeded in refuting the calumnies of his enemies, and the King, too honourable to break his word, raised no further objections and gave his consent.

The Prince accordingly arrived in England. But what a suitor was this bulkiest prince in Europe, of whom Napoleon said when he made him a king that the King of Wiirtemberg seemed created to show to what an extent the human skin could be stretched without bursting. No wonder the Princess Royal, during her first interview with her future husband, was unable to utter a word. But if this courtship was unromantic she was none the less grateful to her corpulent spouse, quitted her native land with joy, and lived happy ever after.

It was not till many years had elapsed — and meanwhile King George had long ceased to rule — that the Princess Elizabeth, at the ripe age of forty-nine,^ gladly married the Landgraf of Hessen-Homburg. He is described by a contemporary as having a face like a snout. "You never saw such a disgusting object," wrote another.^

The amiable Princess Mary tardily found a mate in her cousin the Duke of Gloucester, whose intellect was somewhat weak. Her father had been many years in seclusion when the marriage took place.

Truly matrimony did not present itself in an ideal light to the three married Princesses.

1 This Princess in early youth had made a secret marriage with a Mr. Ramus, by whom she had children. But the circumstances were unromantic.

2 It should be added that Homburg does not, because this union was unromantic, any the less cherish the memory of the ten beneficent years it lasted, during which the English Princess endeared herself to her husband's subjects by her charity and good works.

Of the unmarried daughters : Princess Augusta ^ was highly accompHshed and artistic; while the illstarred Princess Sophia is said to have been the cleverest of the family. Never a ray of romance gilded her appalling story.

^ Princess Augusta was much attached to her physician Dr. Vaughan, better known as Sir Henry Halford. Many of her letters to him of an intimate character were preserved at Wistow, the Halfords' place in Leicestershire, until they were sent to Queen Victoria by the last Baronet.

Chapter II 1 783-1 797

BIRTH OF PRINCESS AMELIA — A BRIGHT GLIMPSE OF CHILDHOOD THE king's first MENTAL ILLNESS IN I788 A MELAN- CHOLY INCIDENT AT KEW CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE OF

WALES king's RECOVERY PUBLIC REJOICINGS — LITTLE

AMELIA AND DEAR PAPA — THE GOVERNESSES — PRINCESS royal's SUPERINTENDENCE.

The fifteenth child of her parents, her Royal Highness Princess Amelia was born at Queen's House ^ on August 7, 1783, and baptized at St. James's in September. The successor of two little delicate brothers who died shortly before her birth, she was the object of most careful and affectionate concern to all around her.^

One of the earliest, as also the brightest, glimpses we have of the subject of these pages is on her third birthday, the cynosure of all beholders, on the terrace at Windsor, where of a summer's evening the King delighted to promenade, accompanied by his fine

1 Queen's House, originally Buckingham House, bought in 1 76 1 from Sir Charles Sheffield by George HI. All the King's children were born there except George IV. It was completely renovated by George IV in 1825 — the present Buckingham Palace.

family, and surrounded by a crowd of courtiers. This became such a popular diversion that numbers of persons came from London to get a peep at the King and Queen. " It was really a mighty pretty procession," writes Miss Fanny Burney on this particular occasion; "the little Princess, just turned three years old, in a robe-coat covered with fine muslin, a dressed close cap, white gloves and a fan, walked on alone and first, highly delighted in the parade, and turning from side to side to see everybody as she passed; for all the terracers stand up against the walls to make a clear passage for the Royal Family the moment they come in sight. Then followed the King and Queen, no less delighted themselves with the joy of their little darling. On sight of Mrs. Delany," proceeds Miss Burney, " the King instantly stopped to speak to her. The Queen, of course, and the little Princess and all the rest stood still in their ranks. ... The little Princess went up to Mrs. Delany, of whom she is very fond, and behaved like a little angel to her." [" How do you do, Duchess of Portland's friend ! " she said to Mrs. Delany, the latter tells us in her own record of the scene.] " She then," continues Miss Burney, "with a look of inquiry and recollection, slowly of her own accord, came behind Mrs. Delany to look at me. ' I'm afraid,' said I, ' your Royal Highness does not remember me.' What think you was her answer?