By George! A Sailor’s Life for Prince William

When Mr. Al left off last week, William was behaving just as frustrated and rake like as the rest of his brothers.

The change in Sailor Billy’s life was that he had met the lady of his dreams. Sailor Billy, or the Duke of Clarence, as he was now known, had taken up with a well-known comic actress named Dorothea Jordan. Mrs. Jordan and Billy shared a number of traits. Not least was their attitude toward societal conventions. Miss Jordan had four children by the time she met the newly minted Duke. Four children by two men. Neither of which she bothered to marry. This bothered the Duke not a whit. Once the couple settled down to a reasonable facsimile of domestic bliss, Dorothea would produce ten more children.

It wasn’t long after Billy met Dorothea that he was prevailed upon to retire from the navy. His love life was not the reason, well, not the sole reason he was asked to leave. It seems that he had decided, now that he was a Duke and all, to make a few speeches in the House of Lords. Nothing fancy, just a few select words on the topics of the day. No one invited him to do so. No one wanted him to do so. But, as a member he had every right to make a speech during the allotted time.

One hobbyhorse of the Duke’s was Prime Minister Pitt. Duke Billy was not particularly Whigish, but in Pitt he saw one of the reasons he and his brothers had such a hard time getting their allowances increased while they were in the military. So Pitt got it with both barrels. That didn’t please dad.  The Duke then made some extraordinary speeches in defense of the slave trade. This was a hot button issue on par with Catholic emancipation and American independence. Sentiment against the trade was growing and feelings on both sides ran high.

The view from St. James was that dukes should find better things to do with their time than take public stands on controversial issues. The Duke even felt obliged to apologize to William Wilberforce, an abolitionist MP who was gaining national prominence because of his opposition to the trade. The Prince shrugged off his brother’s speeches with the remark that William was “a good natured fellow as existed; he meant no harm; but he paid not the smallest regard to the truth.”

While most of the brothers were being given a shot at military glory; what of the brothers who were not?  Prince Augustus, a sensitive and artistic fellow, left for Germany with his brothers Ernest and Adolfus. All three studied at German universities and when they were of age, prepared to enter the army. It was at that time that the decision was made to keep Augustus out of the army. Of course, if he was too unwell to serve, he was too unwell to come home.

Seeking more healthful climates, Augustus went south; first to Switzerland, and finally to Italy, where he settled in Rome. Augustus knew why he wasn’t allowed to come home. In what was becoming a familiar pattern for all the expat brothers Augustus wrote to The Prince. In October of 1792 he wrote that he longed to return home “after an absence of so many years. I have frequently wrote to his Majesty on this subject. The physicians have also informed the King it would be highly advantageous to my health. Not a line on the subject. Not a hint….perhaps a word thrown in by you on a favorable occasion might have the desired effect….the more so as he knows my wish is not to remain near the Metropolis, (London) from which both physical and political reasons drive me.”

Wither the Prince had a word with dad is not known. Augustus did not return to England immediately, when he finally did so it would be under conditions that must have left His Majesty wishing that he had let the fellow come home a lot sooner.