They did not travel together; that would have been inviting the mob to hurl obscenities at them; it was bad enough now to go through the streets and see the jackboot and petticoat paraded or some of the posters which had been put up in prominent places. The Princess liked to travel as quietly as possible and she knew that Lord Bute did too.
The King received them with affection, but not that deference he had shown in the past. She had no need now to tell him to be a king, as she constantly had been obliged to in the old days. George was very much aware of the burdens of state and wanted no one to remind him of them.
"It is of your sister Augusta that I have come to talk to you," said the Princess. "We have been discussing her future and we really feel it is time you did something for her.”
"But what should be done?" asked George.
"She needs a husband. She grows more waspish every day. Don't forget she is a year older than you. We must do everything possible to find her a husband.”
"It is not easy to find a Protestant prince.”
"That has always been the trouble. But we must marry her to someone. She needs marriage I am sure and she is becoming a little tiresome here at Court.”
"Poor Augusta!" said George. "Certainly we must do what we can for her.”
The Princess Dowager sighed. "She feels it deeply being the eldest and not born a boy. I shall never forget the night she was born and how we hurried from Hampton to St. James's because your father hoped she would be a boy and it was imperative that the heir to the throne be born there. There was nothing ready for us and the beds were unaired. Poor Augusta had to be wrapped in a tablecloth.”
Both Lord Bute and the King had heard this story many times before, but they listened sympathetically.
"And when the Queen ... your grandmother, George, came to see her she said she was a poor little mite to be born into a sad world. And so it seems. Poor Augusta! She has never been reconciled to being born a girl. So we must find a husband for her, George.”
"We will do our best.”
"And soon, George. There should not be a long delay. Augusta can no longer be called very young.”
"We will consider the matter as urgent," said George. He looked to Bute and something of the old relationship was between them.
"I found Grenville arrogant," he said. "And Pitt... well, Pitt is difficult too. I took your advice and summoned him. I felt it was necessary now that Egremont has died. But Pitt will return on his own terms. He wants to restore the Whigs. If Pitt would come as head of the Government all well and good. But now he will bring back the Whigs. I said to him: "Mr. Pitt, my honour is concerned and I must support it." So Grenville continues in office and plagues me and tires me and bores me.”
"Ah, what times we live in," sighed Bute; but he had no consolation to offer.
It was very different, thought George, from the old days. But he must devote himself to arranging a marriage for his elder sister. Poor Augusta. Naturally she wanted to marry and have children before it was too late. He understood that. He had his two at Richmond. How he wished he could escape to them and play with them and enjoy the life of a country squire. But duty must come first. In a few days he was negotiating a marriage between his sister Augusta and Charles, Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbiittel.
If George was displeased with George Grenville, so was Grenville with George. For one thing Grenville knew that the King had approached Pitt and it was only because Pitt's terms were impossible that Grenville was invited to stay in office. Having learned that Pitt had had an interview with the King, Grenville went on to discover that this had been brought about through the work of Bute; and that it was Bute in the first place who had suggested Pitt to be approached.
Grenville in a rage went to see the King. As soon as George received him he began one of his lectures which the King found so tiresome, and as George yawned and watched the clock Grenville made no attempt to cut it short. At length the King, exasperated beyond endurance, said that he had other matters to which he must, attend. Grenville replied that he would come to the point and tell His Majesty of his disquiet that Lord Bute, who had resigned from the Government at the people's desire, should still hold so much influence with His Majesty that he could suggest the recall of Mr. Pitt, and that that recall would have been brought about but for Mr. Pitt's intransigence.
The King was trying to catch at the gist of this harangue when Grenville said: "Sire, I can only continue in office if I can be assured that Lord Bute does not enjoy secret conferences with Your Majesty.”
"I will give you that assurance," replied the King. "But it is true that I invited Mr. Pitt to come and see me at Lord Bute's suggestion. It shall not happen again.”
"I sincerely hope it will not," said the Minister grimly, knowing that if he resigned on account of Bute and the people knew, and he would make sure that they did, the King's unpopularity would increase and so would the lampoons and manifestations of the City's hatred against Bute.
"And Your Majesty, if I am to continue in office I must insist that Lord Bute leaves London.”
"Leaves London!”
"Your Majesty it is a condition of my service. If Your Majesty feels that it is impossible to banish Lord Bute then I shall be compelled to deliver to you my seals of office.”
George was angry, but he could see that he was at the Minister's mercy. Would any minister have dared to speak to his grandfather like that? There had been lampoons about George II and it was said that he was ruled by his wife and Sir Robert Walpole which doubtless had been true, but no one would have dared put such conditions to him as Grenville had just done to George III. Of course he was young, a novice at the art of ruling; and he was weary and tired and his head ached and he felt far from well. But he knew that he dared not lose Grenville at this time, so Bute would have to leave London.
George muttered: "I will ask Lord Bute to leave us for a while.”
"And Your Majesty, it could not be permitted that one of Lord Bute's friends take over his office of Keeper of the Privy Purse.”
"Good God," cried George, humiliated into a display of anger, "Mr. Grenville, am I to be suspected after all I have done?”
Grenville murmured: "It is imperative to Your Majesty's Ministers and to the City of London that Lord Bute is not suspected of being Your Majesty's chief adviser.”
The King turned away and when his minister had left, sent for Lord Bute to tell him that he must leave. He was surprised at Bute's meek acceptance of dismissal, though he himself would have given a good deal to escape from his bickering ministers. But he was not particularly sorry either.
When he thought of the old days when he had doted on this man, when he had been terrified of mounting the throne without him beside him, he was astonished that everything could have changed in a comparatively short time.
"It will only be a temporary absence," he murmured. "But I had no alternative but to agree to it.”
Bute nodded.
"You will tell my mother?”
Bute answered that he would.
After he had gone the King sat thinking of them, Bute and his mother. In truth their relationship, of which the people in the streets had made him crudely familiar, shocked him. This was at the root of his changed feelings towards this man who had once been his dearest friend.
And yet, he thought, I went through a form of marriage with Hannah. And if that were a true marriage and if Hannah still lives then I am not married to Charlotte. We are living in sin as my mother is with Lord Bute.
No. it's not true, he told himself. I must shut that thought right out of my mind. For what with Mr.