‘Exactly so,’ agreed the Regent. ‘You are headstrong and perverse. So pray let us hear no more of your folly.’
Charlotte stamped her foot. She had to stand firm now or they would keep her shackled for years. Mercer had said she must put her case clearly. Her mother had told her to defy the Regent and the old Begum. They would have to realize that there were powerful men ready to help her.
‘But,’ she began. ‘I … I will never submit to another governess. A … lady companion I might consider, but never a governess.’
‘There you are wrong,’ corrected the Regent, ‘for a governess you shall have. Pray do not attempt to go against my wishes. I may tell you that I know of certain very unfortunate scenes which have passed between you and certain young men, and for this alone I could have you shut up for life if I felt so inclined.’
‘S … shut up for life!’
‘I am referring to Hesse and Fitzclarence and certain meetings in Windsor Forest. Utterly disgraceful. Utterly unworthy of a princess of your rank. There has been correspondence with people whom I have forbidden you to know. Can you deny this?
Charlotte was silent and the Regent went on triumphantly: ‘There! You see! You show your guilt.’
‘If you … shut me up like a prisoner, what can you expect?’
‘My lord Eldon,’ cried the Regent, ‘what would you do if you had such a daughter?’
‘Your Highness,’ replied Eldon, ‘I should lock her up.’
Charlotte looked at Eldon in silence for some seconds then turning to her father asked if she might retire.
‘You may if you have come to your senses.’
She made a somewhat clumsy curtsey in his direction and another to the Queen and left them.
In her apartment she threw herself on to her bed and burst into tears.
Lady de Clifford, eager to know what had taken place, came hurrying in.
‘What is it, my dearest Princess? What has happened to upset you?’
Charlotte sat up and stared fiercely before her. ‘That coal heaver said I should be locked up. Let him wait until I’m Queen. I’ll make him wish he had died before he had said that.’
‘Lock you up!’ tittered Lady de Clifford. ‘Rather unseemly words for a coal heaver to use when referring to the future Queen of England.’
Charlotte pummelled her pillow as though it were the offending Eldon’s head. But she was really thinking that she had lost her battle. She was no match for them and they had decided to saddle her with another governess no matter what she said.
It was now not a question of Shall I have another governess? but Who will it be?
The Regent had made his decision. It was to be the Duchess of Leeds.
‘Her daughter,’ said the Queen, ‘will be a companion for Charlotte She is exactly fifteen – a little younger than my granddaughter, but I do not care for her to make friendships with older women. They can be most unsuitable.’
The Princess Charlotte sullenly received the news.
‘The Duchess of Leeds!’ she cried to Louisa. ‘She’s a foolish woman.’
Mercer, who was calling now and then at Warwick House as secretly as could be contrived, reminded the Princess that the Duchess, while a stupid woman, was also a meek one and that could be to her advantage.
‘You may well find that you can flout her as easily as you did Lady de Clifford. I am sure she will have no spirit whatsoever. She is certainly stupid – and a Tory. I do not think though that we need fear a great deal of trouble from her.’
‘They have suggested that her daughter, that silly little Catherine Osborne, might be a suitable companion for me. That’s an insult.’
‘You will ignore the child, of course.’
‘Of course. But what I will not have in my household, although they are trying to force her on me, is Lord Eldon’s daughter. My mother says I am being treated shamefully and should not endure it. And at least if I have to accept the Leeds woman I shall refuse that Scott girl.’
Mercer thought she should certainly insist on that and to Charlotte’s surprise the Regent conceded this request.
Old Bags would have to be disappointed, for this matter of Charlotte’s household was arousing public interest and the people egged on by the press were taking sides – and naturally they were on Charlotte’s.
She should have the Duchess of Leeds and her daughter, but he was well aware that what she needed was a sensible woman whom he could trust. He had spoken to his sisters about this and they, who had always adored him, now that he had given them some measure of independence, if it came to a tussle between him and their mother, could be relied upon to give him their support. And he might need it for his choice had fallen on Miss Cornelia Knight.
Miss Knight was in her mid-fifties, a strong-minded and intelligent woman – even a much-travelled one. She and her mother, for reasons of economy, had lived abroad for some years after the death of her father Admiral Sir Joseph Knight; she was of a literary turn of mind and had even published her writings, some of which were of an erudite nature. During her prime she had been a friend of some of the leading literary and artistic figures, among them Dr Johnson and Joshua Reynolds; and there had even been a friendship with Lord Nelson and the Hamiltons while Cornelia was in Naples. Altogether a woman with whom Charlotte could improve her mind. Moreover, Charlotte was not prejudiced against her and even had an affection for her. Mercer Elphinstone admired Miss Knight, not only because there was a similarity in their characters but because Cornelia had been a friend of Admiral Keith, Mercer’s father.
There was, however, an obstacle to the appointment. For more than six years Cornelia had been a member of the Queen’s household – somewhat in the role played some years earlier by Fanny Burney, and the Queen decided that if she lost Miss Knight she would miss her very much. It was not that she had any specified duties. Like other ladies she received her £300 a year, lodging and the services of a maid; but to have such a discreet, sensible, much-travelled woman about her greatly pleased the Queen who was certainly not going to relinquish her lightly.
The Regent told his sister Mary of his decision to appoint Miss Knight to Charlotte’s household.
‘It’s an excellent idea!’ declared Mary. ‘How like you to select the person she most needs.’
‘And the Queen?’
‘Mamma has heard of this.’
‘It’s astonishing how nothing can be kept secret in this place.’
‘It’s true,’ sighed Mary. ‘I was saying so to William only yesterday.’
William, her cousin, thought the Regent, whom she hoped to marry. Poor thing! He would see what could be arranged one day, but that would be an even greater battle with the Queen than this for Cornelia Knight – and after all, Mary and her cousin should fight their own battles. If they were really bent on marriage, they should agitate and he would most certainly come down on their side; but at the moment he was too concerned with more pressing affairs and if Meek Mary and Silly Billy would make no move for themselves they must wait. Meanwhile there was this matter of his own wayward daughter.
‘And what does the Queen say?’
‘She declares that she has no intention of relinquishing Miss Knight.’
‘And Miss Knight herself?’
‘Well, secretly she would be delighted to go to Charlotte. You know how exacting Mamma can be and really she has only begun to show her appreciation of Cornelia now there is a prospect of losing her.’
‘I think we need Miss Knight. Charlotte must have a steadying influence and the Duchess will require her help. I will speak to her.’
Miss Knight received the Regent’s command with an inner satisfaction and an outward equanimity. She was a wise woman and she had found waiting on the Queen stultifying. The Princess Charlotte – a lively young girl and heiress to the throne in her own right – was so obviously a more exciting project and the task before her appealed to Cornelia’s adventurous spirit. Immediately it was offered she knew she was going to take it. The Queen might be annoyed but Miss Knight felt strengthened in her decision. It was a matter of displeasing either the Queen or the Regent.