Pitt and Mr. Grenville, Mr. Wilkes and the rest I should go mad if I dwelt on that too. He would not think of it. Bute would go away for a while and his mother must need to put up with his absence. After all, hadn't he been forced to give up Sarah completely? So why should his mother complain at giving up Bute for a few weeks? They must forget their own troubles and set about arranging Augusta's marriage.
The Princess Augusta was very excited about her coming wedding. She had been presented with a picture of her future husband and was not displeased with it. Caroline Matilda was almost as excited.
"One wedding begets another," she said. "It will be my turn next. Oh, Augusta, just imagine I You'll go right away from us all to a strange land. I wonder what Brunswick's like. I suppose it's not far from Mecklenburg. How odd! You go there and Charlotte comes here.”
"Nothing odd about it," said Augusta sharply. "It's just the nature of things.”
"Oh, the nature of things!" cried Caroline Matilda, dancing round the apartment, her yellow hair streaming out behind her. "And the nature of things is that I'll be the next one. When do you think there'll be a wedding for me, Augusta?”
"Not for years. You're only a child.”
"Thirteen. Charlotte was only seventeen. And as I told you, weddings come together. I'm longing to see Charles. I wonder if he's like his picture. Are you shivering with apprehension?”
"When you reach my age, child, you don't shiver with apprehension, you only sigh with relief.”
Caroline Matilda giggled. "I hope he's a little more handsome than poor Charlotte.”
"Hush! You are speaking of the Queen.”
"Perhaps all Germans are plain.”
"What about us? Are we not mostly German?”
"That was Grandfather. We're all English." Caroline Matilda surveyed her face thoughtfully in a mirror. "In fact," she went on complacently, "I think I am rather good looking.”
Augusta laughed derisively and Caroline Matilda continued to giggle. Since Augusta knew she was to have a husband she had become much pleasanter to her young sister.
And in January Prince Charles Frederick of Brunswick arrived in England. George took an immediate dislike to his prospective brother-in-law, and so did the Prince to him. Charles Frederick was twenty-nine and high spirited; on the way over he had been talking with the utmost indiscretion about English politics; he had stated that the King was inexperienced and had been led by the nose by Lord Bute, before that gentleman had been sent packing, while refusing the services of one of the greatest politicians alive, by whom he meant William Pitt. When this conversation was reported to the King and his ministers it did not endear them to the visitor.
As for the Princess Dowager, she declared that she had never liked his family. She had accepted him as her daughter's husband, she told Lord Bute, when he paid his secret visits to her - for it was not to be expected that they would give those up - but the old Duchess of Wolfenbiittel was the most disagreeable woman she had ever known, and everyone was aware that she had refused her daughter for George, although his grandfather had tried to foist the girl on to him.
If it was not for the fact that Augusta must have a husband she would never have agreed to the match. But Augusta really was a trying creature; her tongue was so sharp and she was interesting herself too deeply in politics. She was a supporter of Pitt's and with her brother, the Duke of York, was actually taking sides with the Opposition and those who were against the policy of the Court.
Augusta was a real meddler. Well, let her meddle in Brunswick. The Princess Dowager went to see her son to talk of the coming ceremonials.
"I don't see why we should go to any length to impress Brunswick," said Augusta.
"Nor I," agreed George. "The fellow is an oaf. He would not know the difference between a Court ceremony or a country-house ball. So why go to the expense?”
"It would be a great expense. And don't forget we have already had to pay the fellow handsomely to take her.”
"Eighty thousand pounds, an annuity of 5000 pounds a year on Ireland and 3000 pounds a year on Hanover. It's being an expensive matter getting rid of Augusta. Now for heaven's sake, do not let us add to the expense.”
"We won't; I am ordering that the servants should not have new livery.”
George was looking better than he had for some months; he had always enjoyed working out details of household expenditure.
"And," he went on, "I have decided that he shall be lodged at Somerset House and that there will be no need to station guards there.”
Augusta nodded, approving, but thinking at the same time: "In the old days he would have consulted one of us first.”
"Doubtless he will be unaware," said the Princess Dowager, 'that he is not being treated with the respect one would naturally give to a gentleman in his position. I believe manners are very crude in Brunswick.”
This may have been so, but the Prince was immediately aware of the coldness of his reception and was furious. He was by no means meek and had no intention of hiding his displeasure. He had distinguished himself on the battlefield with the armies of Frederick the Great and, since he had come to England to take an ageing princess off their hands, he had expected better treatment.
The only one at the English Court who was pleased with him seemed to be his bride and she would have been pleased with any bridegroom. At least he was not deformed and she pretended not to notice his crudities. The ladies and gentlemen of the Court, taking their cue from the King, all showed their dislike of the bridegroom to such an extent that it would seem they were trying to influence the Princess Augusta against him.
But the Prince of Brunswick discovered a way of having his revenge. When he went out into the streets and the people crowded about his carriage to see him pass, he was extremely affable and showed his interest in them; he waved and smiled and very soon he had them cheering him. There was an occasion when he saw a soldier in the crowd who had served with him in the field; he acknowledged the man and they talked for a while with the crowd pressing close. That cemented his popularity. Here he was a visitor to England, a young bridegroom, and he was slighted and insulted. He was pushed into Somerset House without a guard and it was clear by the way he was unescorted that he was being humiliated.
The people were up in arms. This was a further cause for complaint against the King and his ministers. How dared they treat a visitor so! It was unpatriotic, un-English! Well, the people of London were going to teach their king manners. So wherever he went it was: "Long live the Prince." The women threw kisses; the men cheered themselves hoarse; and the Prince was slyly delighted. There was only one thing which would have discountenanced the King and his ministers more, and he proceeded to do it. He made overtures to the leading members of the Opposition for having studied English politics he was aware of the effect this would have and was invited to dine with the Dukes of Cumberland and Newcastle; and not content with that he visited William Pitt at his Hayes residence.
"He's a scoundrel," spluttered the King; but he had to admit that the Prince had outwitted him and his ministers and that this was one more failure.
Four days after the Prince's arrival he and the Princess Augusta were married. The Princess Augusta found she had married a masterful man. He was not much concerned with the niceties of life and her introduction to his somewhat coarse mode of living was a little startling. Temporarily she was robbed of that arrogance which had always prevented her from making friends and there was something pathetic about this once self-sufficient woman now faced with a new life in a land of which she knew nothing, with a husband almost a stranger to her; all she did understand was that it would be very different from life as she had lived it hitherto.