Categotry Archives: Mr. Al
By George! He Would Be King! Almost.
With so many unpleasant things happening in the royal family; Amelia’s death, the Duke of Cumberland’s scandal, you know something has to give, and it won’t be the Prince. The death of Princess Amelia, following so closely on the Duke of Cumberland scandal, had a very bad effect on the King. His relapse was so severe than many feared for his life. Even before the relapse, he was almost completely blind and deaf. No one held serious hopes that he […]
By George! Life Must Go On, For Some
In last weeks installment of Mr. Al’s in-depth examination of George IV, long-time soul mate, Mrs. Fitzherbert threw in the towel. Do you think the prince noticed? Several events in 1810 were soon to overshadow whatever pain the Prince might have experienced at the loss of Mrs. Fitzherbert. In May of that year, the Duke of Cumberland, “Alias, the Black Sheep” as his brother, the Duke of Kent referred to him, had involved himself in a nasty scandal. The Duke […]
By George! It's a Sad Goodbye
In my last installment I mentioned that the Prince proved his sensitivity to social conventions by having Mrs Fitzherbert present while he had his new girlfriend, Lady Hertford, over for dinner. My regular readers will not be surprised to learn that Mrs Fitzherbert found this intolerable. After the business with Lady Jersey, she had no desire to go through that again. With the greatest reluctance, she asked the Prince to keep his distance. Mrs. Fitzherbert’s attachment to the Prince would […]
By George! Prince George's Mating Dance
When we left off last week, George IV had found a new love. Any idea’s what kind of woman would turn his head at this late date? The Prince’s new love interest was Lady Hertford, daughter of Ninth Viscount Irvine. Lady Hertford was a Tory, as were most members of her family. This put off the Prince not a whit. He was willing to be flexible on that point Lady Hertford was, according to one historian, “a very rich, beautifully […]
By George! Taking Care of Caroline.
So Prince George lost his suit against Princess Caroline, who returned most of the way to the King’s good graces. Then to add injury to insult, Fox dies. Last week’s By George! Was pretty eventful. If you missed it, click here. The government that replaced the “Ministry of all the talents” was familiar to Caroline; The Duke of Portland became Prime Minister. George Canning, a man long suspected of being Caroline’s lover, became Foreign Secretary. Spencer Perceval became Chancellor of […]
By George! Maybe She's Guilty, Then Again….
Perceval assembled the evidence against Her Highness, and then laid out, in writing, a long, incisive defense. These were presented to a wary king who not feeling at all well. The King passed the ball to the cabinet. Whatever conclusions those worthy gentlemen arrived at would be the determining factor in whatever course of action His Majesty should choose to follow. His Majesty no doubt congratulated himself on dodging that particular bullet. When politicians get a piece of public business […]
By George! The Prince’s Ship Almost, Maybe, Comes In
Between her own behavior, the rumors running around, and the reaction of the crown, Princess Caroline had found herself in a lot of hot water. Let’s see how the Prince was doing. While the situation with his wife was not improving, the Prince’s political prospects had improved markedly. In 1805, the Addington government collapsed. This created opportunities for the Whigs that they were quick to take advantage of. The party’s fortunes further increased with the death of Pitt, at age […]
By George! Let’s Check Her Out.
It appeared Caroline’s goose was cooked, so far as the evidence of her faithlessness to George IV went. Just what did the commission investigating her find? The commission conducting the delicate investigation could not overlook the fact that nearly all the servants they had interviewed so far had worked for the Prince before taking up positions with Princess Caroline. When servants who had not been previously employed by the Prince were called to testify, They painted a very different picture. […]
By George! How Far Will the Princess Go?
Last week Mr Al hinted that Princess Caroline went too far in her amorous attentions, acting with no awareness of her position as the future queen. Just what happened, anyway? . . At one time, the Douglas’s lived near the Princess at Blackheath. A home they shared with Rear Admiral Sir Sydney Smith, whom Sir John served under while fighting Bonaparte in the Middle East. The Douglas’s were frequent guests to the Princesses home until she discovered, or so she […]
By George! What Is Caroline Up To?
From what Mr. Al said last week, I get the feeling Princess Caroline was… what did they call it then? A light skirt. In 1801, Princess Caroline moved to Montague House, in London. Even at 4,000 pounds a year, she managed to maintain a full staff and entertain on a regular basis. The Princess had her own ideas about entertaining, however. For example, after dinner, when guests would retire to the drawing room for musical entertainments, Princess Caroline would take […]
By George! The King Just Keeps on Going, and Going, and Going…
What could Mr. Al have been alluding to last week when he said the Prince had shocked the King? Let’s find out. Take it away, Mr. Al. . . As dismaying as it may have been for the King to know that the Prince’s private life was anything but, he most certainly expected the details of his own life to remain private. Imagine then, his shock upon discovering that his correspondence with the Prince on the subject of the Prince’s […]
By George! It’s Just a Weensie Favor
Last week Mr. Al talked about the new Prime Minister, Addington. Lets see what Prince George wanted from him. And so it came to pass that The Prince needed a weensie favor from Parliament. I know my regular readers are thinking, “He wanted his allowance increased.” You people are SO cynical! You think with the Prince it was all about money, or women or horseraces or strong drink. Give the guy a break! He did think of other thing occasionally. […]
By George! Dad’s Going Down Again.
Last week Prince George IV rediscovered his first wife, and his languishing politics. Was this a good thing? And what were these two events referred to in my previous post? The first was that his old enemy, Prime Minister Pitt, was forced to resign over the issue of emancipation for Irish Catholics. Pitt was for it more or less as a matter of realpolitic. Trying to govern Ireland while suppressing the Catholic Church there did not make sense. Particularly if […]
By George! The Love of His Life, Plus a Little Politicks
Poor Princess Caroline. She had no way to know how much Mrs. Fitzherbert meant to Prince George. In June of 1800, Mrs. Fitzherbert held a formal dinner for the Prince to let society know that the two were an item again. It was to be a quiet, low-key affair, only four hundred of their very closest friends. The Times reported, “Our fashionable dames continue to endeavor to outvie each other in the expense, style or peculiarity of their entertainments. In […]
By George! But Honey, I Always Loved You Best
Prince George never stayed true in his affections for very long, with one notable exception. And even then… In June 1799, the Prince overcame his delicate feelings about a woman of rank being booted to the curb and booted Lady Jersey to the curb from Jack Payne’s old crib next to Carlton House. To make sure she got the point, he fired her geriatric husband from his job as the Prince’s Master of the Horse. A job in name only […]
