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 that nobody wants to handle, they send it to a committee for “study” there, hopefully, it will remain until the bills sponsors die of old age.

Time dragged on. The Princess said that “long weeks of daily expectation and expense had brought her nothing but disappointment.” The Prince couldn’t understand why his good buddies in the cabinet weren’t ordering Caroline to be trussed up like a Christmas pig and tossed aboard the next convict ship to Australia. The cabinet took up the matter in early June. On December 23, they issued a reply. The reply said, in essence, “Maybe she’s guilty; then again, maybe she’s not.”

Secretary for War William Windham added a dissenting minute to the printed reply. It was his view that the charges originally brought against Caroline were “as to part directly disproved and as to the remainder, rested on evidence that could not entitle it to the smallest credit.” Other cabinet members were not willing to go that far. They concurred with the original commissions conclusions, but…they felt they must also support Princess Caroline’s request to be accepted back into the good graces of Their Most August Majesties; and to be assured of his “satisfactory conviction of her innocence” was a matter that “depended solely” on His Majesties “own feelings and persuasions.”

Politicians! What earthly good are they?

His Majesty sent the cabinet back into session to try again. And if, in the course of their deliberations, they came across someone selling spines, they might want to buy a gross. The cabinet poked at the matter like little boys jabbing at road kills with long sticks. Who, oh who, would be the first to reach down and pick it up? With all concerned keeping a fire burning under them, the cabinet collectively picked it up. At the end of January, 1807, they issued another report. Their conclusion? The Princess of Wales should be allowed to resume social intercourse (snicker) with Their Majesties. But…they also recommended that the King send a letter to Her Highness reminding her that she is in the public eye. That she has habits that maybe are okay in Brunswick, but are just plain nasty in England. A Princess of Wales cannot be a boytoy.

The King sent the letter. He left out the stuff about nasty habits, stating only that her behavior was a matter of “serious concern” to those who loved her. Princess Caroline was a member of the family again. The Prince was livid with rage. Thousands of (taxpayer) pounds spent on lavish dinner parties for Whig nabobs and this was the result? The Princess was so happy to be in the family again she sent the King a long, gushy letter. She thanked him for his support and confidence and informed him that she would be dropping by the palace to visit the following Monday.

His Majesty informed her that he would prefer she drop in a moment that would be convenient for HIM. Not to be stuffed shirt or anything, but he was still the King; he had his own plans, ect. He would prefer that she visit on a day “subsequent to the following week.” So there! As for the Prince, having lost his case, such as it was, was made all the more unbearable by the loss of Fox. Fox had fallen ill the previous summer, by September, he was dead. Fox was the glue that held the Whigs together. Without his leadership, the “Ministry of all the talents” collapsed.

The Prince, in a snit over the way his pals had betrayed him by refusing to tar and feather Caroline, and also because they gave him trouble when he asked for more money, let it collapse without lifting a finger to help. This would prove to be a mistake. But then, the Prince never did know what was good for him.