LADY SARAH LENNOX AND GEORGE III[116]
It is certain that the intrigue between the Prince of Wales and Hannah
Lightfoot could not have been of long duration, for even before he
ascended the throne it was patent to all beholders that he was deeply
infatuated with Lady Sarah Lennox, the youngest daughter of Charles,
second Duke of Richmond, and a great-granddaughter of the Merry Monarch.
[116] The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to "The Life
and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox. Edited by the Countess of Ilchester
and Lord Stavordale (Murray, 1901)," and to express his thanks to Lord
Ilchester, the owner of the copyright, for permission to insert several
extracts from that work.
Lady Sarah had attracted the attention of George II one day when walking
in Kensington Gardens by breaking away from her nurse or governess--she
was but five years old--and addressing him without ceremony: "_Comment
vous portez vous, Monsieur le roi? Vous avez une grande et belle maison
ici, n'est pas?_" Her audacity pleased the sovereign, and he saw her
frequently until 1751, when she was sent to Ireland to her aunt, Lady
Kildare, with whom she remained until she was thirteen. Then she was
placed in the care of Lady Caroline Fox[117] and not long afterwards the
King, in spite of her youth, invited his favourite to court, where,
however, he played and joked with her as if she was still a little
child. The unexpected treatment embarrassed her; she could find nothing
to say, and shyly kept her eyes on the ground, whereupon the King turned
from her, saying, "Pooh! she's quite stupid." The young Prince of Wales
was "struck with admiration and pity" at this sight of beauty in
distress, and then and there, we are told, fell in love--thus showing an
appreciation of good looks that was not common with the Georges.
[117] Afterwards the wife of Henry Fox, first Baron Holland.
Lady Sarah, who was not fifteen when she went to Court in November,
1759, was indeed, alike according to her portraits and to all
contemporary chroniclers, a most lovely girl. "Her beauty is not easily
described otherwise than by saying she had the finest complexion, most
beautiful hair, and prettiest person that ever was seen, with a
sprightly and fine air, a pretty mouth, and remarkably fine teeth, and
excess of bloom in her cheeks, little eyes," said her uncle, Henry Fox.
"This is not describing her, for her great beauty was a peculiarity of
countenance that made her at the same time different from and prettier
than any other girl I ever saw."[118] Walpole is quite as enthusiastic
about her charms in a letter to George Montagu, written in January,
1761. "There was a play at Holland House, acted by children; not all
children, for Lady Sarah Lennox and Lady Susan Strangways played the
women. It was 'Jane Shore.' Charles Fox was Hastings. The two girls were
delightful and acted with so much nature, that they appeared the very
things they represented. Lady Sarah was more beautiful than you can
conceive; her very awkwardness gave an air of truth to the sham of the
part, and the antiquity of the time, kept up by the dress, which was
taken out of Montfaucon. Lady Susan was dressed from Jane Seymour. I was
more struck with the last scene between the two women than ever I was
when I have seen it on the stage. When Lady Sarah was in white, with her
hair about her ears, and on the ground, no Magdalen of Correggio was
half so lovely and expressive."
[118] _Lord Holland's Memoir_ in _The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah
Lennox_.
After the death of his grandfather, George III made no effort to hide
the state of his feelings. Of course, the Princess Dowager came to know
of her son's attachment to Lady Sarah, and she and Lord Bute were aghast
at the notion of the King marrying the girl, for such an alliance would
be even more fatal to their influence on the young monarch than the
frustrated union with a princess of the House of Brunswick, since in
this case they would have to contend, not only against the power of a
fascinating bride, but also against the intrigues of such an astute
politician as Henry Fox, who had everything to gain by excluding them
from the King's councils. On the other hand, Fox, his hand strengthened
by the fact that the laws of England do not forbid the sovereign to mate
with a subject, did all he could to promote the union that must benefit
him. So while the principals in that love affair played their parts,
behind them was a bitter fight that was not the less severe because it
could not come to open warfare.
Fox was careful that his niece, Lady Sarah, should stay at Holland House
so long as the King was in town, but discreetly himself went from time
to time to his house at Kingsgate in the Isle of Thanet, very wisely
realizing that the strongest card in his hand was the charm of the young
girl. "Though Fox went himself to bathe in the sea, and possibly even to
disguise his intrigues," Walpole wrote in 1761, "he left Lady Sarah at
Holland House, where she appeared in a field close to the great road
(where the King passed on horseback) in a fancy habit making hay."
The course of true love ran smoothly enough for a while. The King was
young and handsome, and Lady Sarah, not averse to be a queen, received
his overtures graciously. So far, indeed, had the affair progressed
early in 1761, that the King confided his passion to Lady Sarah's
friend, Lady Susan Fox Strangways,[119] with whom he had the following
guarded conversation:
"You are going into Somersetshire; when do you return?"
"Not before winter, sir, or I don't know how soon in winter."
"Is there nothing will bring you back to town before winter?"
"I don't know of anything."
"Would you not like to see a Coronation?"
"Yes, sir. I hope I should come to see that."
"I hear it's very popular my having put it off.... Won't it be a much
finer sight when there is a Queen?"
"To be sure, sir."
"I have had a great many applications from abroad, but I don't like
them. I have had none at home: I should like that better.... What do you
think of your friend? You know who I mean; don't you think her fittest?"
"Think, sir?"
"I think none so fit."[120]
[119] Eldest daughter of Stephen, first Earl of Ilchester, the eldest
brother of Henry Fox. Lady Susan eloped in 1764 with William O'Brien,
the actor.
[120] Lord Holland's _Memoir_ in _The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah
Lennox_.
According to Thomas Pitt, Lady Susan was much embarrassed when the King
said, "I have had no applications at home: I should like that better,"
as, for an instant, she thought he meant her, but her agitation was
dissipated when he continued, "I mean your friend, Lady Sarah Lennox.
Tell her so, and let me have her answer the next Drawing-room day."[121]
Fox, however, makes no allusion to this, and merely records that the
King crossed over to Lady Sarah, and told her to ask her friend what he
had been saying.
[121] _Grenville Papers._
A week later the King asked Lady Sarah if she had heard what he had
said, and upon her replying in the affirmative, put the question, "Do
you approve?" to which he received as answer only a cross look,
whereupon, in high dudgeon, he left the room. This brusque repulse is
explained by the fact that Lady Sarah was piqued by her lover, Lord
Newbattle,[122] and sought solace by avenging his offence upon her royal
suitor. Fox remarked the coolness of the King, and commented, "He has
undoubtedly heard of Lord Newbattle and more than is true;" but soon the
sovereign's love conquered his dignity, and perhaps a reconciliation was
hastened by the news of an accident in the hunting field to Lady Sarah.
Lord Newbattle when told she had fractured a leg had said, "It will do
no great harm, for her legs were ugly enough before," and this
statement, repeated to Lady Sarah, cured her of her attachment to the
speaker, and made her more ready, on her recovery, to accede to the
King's request to reconsider his proposal.
[122] John William, Lord Newbattle, afterwards fifth Marquis of Lothian.
"Lord Newbattle (Lord Ancram's son), a vain, insignificant puppy,
lively, and not ugly, made love to all the girls, but was much in love
with Lady Caroline Russell, the Duke of Bedford's daughter. Lady Sarah
tried to get him away from her, and was so pleased with her success that
she grew too much pleased with his Lordship. It was really a commerce of
vanity, not of love, on each side."--_Henry Fox_, 1761.
But this marriage was not to be. "They talk very strongly of a white
Princess of Brunswick about fifteen, to be our new Queen, and so
strongly that one can hardly help believing it, though with no good and
particular authority," Fox wrote on April 7, 1761; though a week later
he recorded: "On Sunday I heard from good authority that the report of
his Majesty's intended marriage with a Princess of Brunswick was
entirely without foundation, and that he was totally free and
unengaged." That Fox was incredulous as to the King's marriage with a
princess was not unnatural, considering the monarch's conduct. "At the
court ball on his Majesty's birthday, June 4, 1761, Lady Sarah's place
was, of course, at the head of the dancers' bench, nearest his seat: the
royal chair, heavy as it was, was moved nearer and nearer to the left,
and he edged further and further the same way, and the conversation went
on till all dancing was over and everybody sat in suspense; and it
approached one in the morning ere he recollected himself and rose to
dismiss the assembly."[123] On June 18 the King said to Lady Sarah: "For
God's sake remember what I said to Lady Susan before you went to the
country, and believe that I have the strongest attachment." Yet within a
fortnight of explicit declaration, which was well received by the girl,
a Council was summoned for July 8, though even on the 6th Fox could
obtain no hint from Lord Bute as to the business to be transacted. At
the meeting of the Council the King announced his forthcoming marriage
with Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz!
[123] Percy Fitzgerald: _The Good Queen Charlotte_.
Lady Susan Fox Strangways was more aggrieved than the person chiefly
concerned, for, as she remarked humorously, "I almost thought myself
Prime Minister"; but Fox was furious, as much at the deception as at the
disappointment. "My mother (Lady Sarah) would probably have been vexed,"
said Henry Napier, "but her favourite squirrel happened to die at the
same time, and his loss was more felt than that of a crown."[124] Lady
Sarah was not in love with the King, and the shock fell not on her heart
but on her vanity. "I did not cry, I assure you, which I believe you
will, as I know you were set upon it that I was," she wrote on July 7,
1761, to Lady Susan. "The thing I am most angry at is looking so like a
fool, as I shall for having gone so often for nothing, but I don't much
care; if he was to change his mind again (which can't be though), and
not give me a _very_ good reason for his conduct, I would not have him,
for if he is so weak as to be governed by everybody, I shall have but a
bad time of it." She certainly had reason to complain of the King's
conduct, and, after referring to his "mighty kind speeches and looks,"
this she did to the same correspondent. "Even last Thursday, the day
after the orders [for the Council] were come out," she wrote, "the
hypocrite had the face to come up and speak to me with all the good
humour in the world, and seemed to want to speak to me but was
afraid.... He must have sent to this woman [Princess Charlotte] before
you went out of town, then what business had he to begin again? In
short, his behaviour is that of a man who has neither sense, good
nature, nor honesty."[125]
[124] Mr. Napier's _Memoir_ in _The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah
Lennox_.
[125] _Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox._
The King's conduct at this juncture has never been satisfactorily
explained. "It is well known," Wraxall wrote, "that before his marriage
the King distinguished by his partiality Lady Sarah Lennox, then one of
the most beautiful young women of high rank in the kingdom. Edward IV,
or Henry VIII, in his situation, would have married and placed her on
the throne. Charles II, more licentious, would have endeavoured to
seduce her. But the King, though he admired her, neither desired to make
her his wife nor his mistress, subdued his passion by the strength of
his reason, his principles, and his sense of public duty."[126]
[126] _Historical Memoirs of My Own Times._
This statement is certainly inaccurate, at least in so far as the
remark that the King did not desire to make Lady Sarah his wife, for all
the evidence--which was not available in Wraxall's day--tends to prove
that for a while this was his wish. There is more truth in the
supposition that his sense of public duty intervened in favour of a lady
of royal birth, though this furnishes no reason for keeping his
intention secret from Lady Sarah. Doubtless he was persuaded by his
mother and Lord Bute that it was his duty to espouse a princess, and,
once convinced of this, he sighed and sighed, and rode away.
Fox knew he was beaten, but he showed a philosophic calm. "Well, Sal,"
he said to his niece, "you are the first virgin in England, and you
shall take your place in spite of them all as chief bridesmaid, and the
King shall behold your pretty face and repent." But the twain met again
so early as July 16 when Lady Sarah went to Court. "I went this morning
for the first time," she wrote to her friend. "He looked frightened when
he saw me, but notwithstanding came up with what countenance I don't
know for I was not so gracious as ever to look at him: when he spoke our
conversation was short. Here it is. 'I see riding is begun again, it's
glorious weather for it now.' Answer. 'Yes, it is very fine,'--and add
to that a very cross and angry look of my side and his turning away
immediately, and you know the whole."[127]
[127] _Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox._
Lady Sarah, as her uncle had promised, was duly appointed chief
bridesmaid, and perhaps she felt herself avenged, for, according to
Princess Amelia, "Upon my word my nephew has most wonderful assurance;
during the ceremony he never took his eyes from Lady Sarah, or cast them
once upon his bride."[128] It was remarked that the King moved uneasily
when the Archbishop of Canterbury read the lines of the marriage
service: "And as Thou didst send Thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah to
their great comfort, so vouchsafe to send Thy blessing upon these Thy
servants"; but it has not been recorded how the King felt when, at the
Drawing-room held on the next day, the old Earl of Westmoreland mistook
Lady Sarah for the Queen and was only prevented just in time from
kneeling and kissing her hand.[129]
[128] Lord Carlisle: _Reminiscences_.
[129] Walpole: _Memoirs of George III_.
Lord Westmoreland was an adherent of the Stuarts, and Selwyn said that
"the lady in waiting must have told him Lady Sarah was the Pretender."
That the King never forgot Lady Sarah Lennox is certain. When at the
theatre he saw Mrs. Pope, who much resembled Lady Sarah, he fell into a
reverie, and, forgetful of the Queen and other persons in his box,
mused: "She is like Lady Sarah still"; while Princess Elizabeth told
Lady Louisa Stuart, "Do you know papa says she (Princess Mary) will be
like Lady Sarah Bunbury, who was the prettiest woman he ever saw in his
life." Lady Sarah was well content with her lot, and, as is well known,
made in 1762 "a match of her own choice" with the sporting baronet, Sir
Thomas Charles Bunbury, and, when this union was dissolved in 1781,
married the Hon. George Napier,[130] and became the mother of eight
children, two of whom, William and Charles, attained distinction as,
respectively, the historian of the Peninsular War and the conqueror of
Scinde.[131] But we have no concern here with the later years of Lady
Sarah, save to remark that she never regretted the loss of the brilliant
position to which she so nearly attained. "I declare that I have for
years reverenced the Queen's name, and admired the judgment of
Providence in placing so exalted a character in a station where my
miserable one would have been a disgrace!" she wrote in 1789 to Lady
Susan O'Brien. "And now I still affirm the judgment of Providence is
always right, but I see she was chosen to punish the poor King's faults
by her ambitions and conduct instead of _me_ by my faults, and I _still_
rejoice I was never Queen, and so I shall to my life's end; for, at the
various events in it, I have regularly catechised myself upon that very
point, and I always preferred my own situation, sometimes happy,
sometimes miserable, to what it would have been had that event ever
taken place." One other quotation from a letter from Lady Sarah to the
same correspondent may perhaps be allowed. "I am one who will keep the
King's marriage-day with unfeigned joy and gratitude to Heaven that I am
not in her Majesty's place! It was the happiest day for me, in as much
[as] I like to attend my dear sick husband better than a King. I like my
sons better than I like the royal sons, thinking them better animals,
and more likely to give me comfort in my old age; and I like better to
be a subject, than subject to the terrors of royalty in these days of
trouble. It's pleasant to have lived to be satisfied of the great
advantages of a lot which in those days I might have deemed unlucky.
Ideas of fifteen and sixty one cannot well assimilate; but mine began
at fourteen, for if you remember I was not near fifteen when my poor
head began to be turned by adulation, in consequence of my supposed
favour. In the year 1759, on the late Princess of Wales's birthday,
November 30, I ought to have been in my nursery, and I shall ever think
it was unfair to bring me into the world while a child. _Au reste_, I am
delighted to hear the King is so well, for I am excessively partial to
him. I always consider him as an old friend that has been in the wrong;
but does one love one's friend less for being in the wrong even towards
oneself? I don't, and I would not value the friendship of those who
measure friendship by my deservings. God help me if all my friends
thought thus."[132]
[130] Second son of Francis, fifth Baron Napier.
[131] It has been said that Sir Charles announced the capture of Scinde
in the briefest despatch on record--"Peccavi." Only such a brilliant
exploit can be accepted as excuse for such an execrable joke.
[132] _Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox._