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. But not this time.

Some lawyers put a bee in the Prince’s bonnet involving the Duchy of Cornwall. He had agreed that the whole of his income from that source would be applied to his debts. The law, as he thought he understood it, was that he was entitled to those revenues upon reaching the age of twenty-one. That’s when he began receiving them. “Nosireebob!” Said his powdered wig sharpies. The Prince was entitled to those revenues starting the day he was born!

The Prince was delighted to receive this bit of news. He put in a claim to Parliament for twenty-one year’s worth of Cornwall revenue. Payable to him. Personally. All at once, if it wasn’t too much trouble. With interest, if they could manage it.

It was too much trouble. Even some of the Prince’s pals had a problem with the idea of shoveling that much money into the Royal Bottomless Pit of self-indulgence. They didn’t need a crystal ball to know what he would do with it. They REALLY did not want to have to explain to their constituents why they gave him so much taxpayer money, with interest, when those payments had already been made to the Crown, but not to the Prince personally.

He did receive a consolation prize the next year, however. In order to re-establish the Prince in “that splendor which belonged to his rank.” As Addington put it, it was proposed that he should receive an additional 60,000 pounds a year for three years to settle his debts. In return, His Highness would renounce all claims to the Cornwall “arrears”, as they were called.
The “Annuity Bill” was passed; but by so slender a margin that it seriously damaged the reputation of Addington’s administration. The administration managed to limp along for another year and was almost on the point of collapse when the King fell ill again.

All the symptoms were the same as before. Addington called in the Willises. When they tried to demand admittance to the Kings apartments, the Dukes of Kent and Cumberland were on hand to bar the way. Unbeknownst to the Willises, the King had made the entire family swear Holy Oaths that under no circumstances would any member of the Willis family be allowed to come near him.

Instead, one Samuel Foart Simmons, a doctor from St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics was called in. His methods differed but little from the Willises. He had His Majesty in a straitjacket in no time. Also like the Willises, he issued reports that His Majesty was doing just fine. As long as he remained under the care of Doctor Simmons.

Simmons was no more inclined to let the Prince see his father than the Willises had been. Ministers were allowed in on official business. They reported that His Majesty seemed to be able to get on with government matters, although it was an obvious strain. They were careful not to press him too hard.

The family had another opinion altogether. The King was excessively ill tempered; dismissing servants for no reason whatsoever. This behavior “afflicted the Royal Family beyond measure; the Queen was ill and cross, the Princesses low, depressed and quite sinking under it.”

The Prince prepared for the worst. He began lining up a new administration. Addington was a good fellow, but he wasn’t going to make it. There was no point in pretending otherwise. Names were tossed about. Even Pitt’s name was brought up. The Prince let it be known that he would consider anyone, regardless of party, provided “they enjoyed the countries confidence.”

Pitt’s response to this was to tell friends, strictly in private, that His Highness was a man without honor, common sense or even one shred of credibility. His word was worth nothing. The only thing you could trust the Prince to do was act on his own selfish desires.
True as this may have been, and no doubt Pitt sincerely believed it, he was not going to poison the well by carrying on a public feud with His Highness. Pitt was “out” and he very much wanted to be “in.” So much so that he was willing to try and form a broad based coalition government with Fox and Grenville. In Pitt’s view, war with France was a sure thing. The country needed a unified government.

The King tossed cold water on their plans. He wasn’t completely around the bend yet. When he heard that Pitt considered Fox and Grenville to be necessary to forming a new government, he made his displeasure known. What really toasted his muffins was that Fox and his son had kissed and made up.

As for the Prince, now that dad was able, for the time being, to stick his oar in, he was once more a spectator to events that he should have been a part of. He was very upset that he did not know his father’s true condition. The doctors said he was much better. The doctors also continued to forbid the Prince from seeing him.

The Queen was allowed to see him. She would have been happier if she hadn’t. As had happened during his first illness, the King was aggressively hostile toward her. This, not surprisingly, made her rather hostile toward everyone else. The more so since His Majesty made obvious efforts to be nice to the rest of the family.

Or at least civil. Except toward the Prince, which hardly mattered since the Prince wasn’t allowed to see him anyway. One member of the family His Majesty was very pleasant to was the Princess of Wales. Throughout the month of June the King had been steadily improving. By the 26th, everyone, the doctors, Pitt, the Queen, felt that he was stable enough to have an interview with the Prince.

This was an important matter. It was a matter of State. It was important that the country know that the King and the heir to the throne were getting on well. The only problem was, the Prince didn’t wish to see him. Or was afraid to see him. Probably a bit of both. The Prince claimed that the immediate problem was dad interfering with his husbandly porogitives.

To wit, the King had bestowed upon the Princess the Rangership of Greenwich Park. What this entailed exactly, I don’t know. But there was some money in it, which gave the Princess a source of income independent of her husband’s heavily, conditioned largess. The Prince found this intolerable. As a result, he used it as an excuse not to see him.

Both family members and Whig politicos urged the Prince to stop being such a prat and go and visit his father. The sooner the better. Who knew when he might have a relapse? The Prince finally agreed and the date of August twenty-second was set. Now all the interested third parties had to do was get the King to agree to it. During the interim, the Prince had gone and done something so shocking to His Majesty that the King was ready to kill him.

– Mr. Al