THE PRINCE AT THE AGE OF NINE.
The new King, George the First of England, having departed with his
train, and a month after the Princess Caroline--soon to become Princess
of Wales--following with all the other children, little Frederick
Louis, then in his eighth year, was left alone at Herrenhausen under
the guardianship of his great-uncle Ernest Augustus and controlled by
various governors and tutors.
One can imagine the little lonely boy wandering through the deserted
corridors of the Palace of Herrenhausen and picturing the figures
of those dearest to him, those who had left him and whose faces he
was not to see again for many a long year. In the early days of that
separation one can picture the child in the orange walks of the
beautiful grounds in the warm autumn time and looking and longing for
his mother--she was a good and affectionate mother to him then--whose
face he was not to see again for nearly fourteen years. During the next
two years while the excitement of the Pretender’s invasion was passing
in England, the little Prince lived the ordinary life of a child, but
with the difference from ordinary children that he must have been an
exceedingly lonely child. That he was without companions of his own
age is quite certain from what followed. From his great-uncle it is
unlikely that he received much sympathy, if that Prince partook of the
nature of his brother the King-Elector George. But there was one left
behind there who possibly showed him some kindness--although there
is not a vestige of evidence to show that she did--and that was the
beautiful Countess Platen, the mistress of the King who was left behind
on account of the religion she professed, and because Bernstorff, the
Hanoverian Prime Minister, was jealous of her influence over the King.
So for two years the little Prince lived his child’s life and nothing
was recorded of him. Then we hear of him from two sources: from Lady
Mary Wortley-Montagu, who visited Hanover in 1716, like many other
English in the train of the King, and from his governor who reported
upon his conduct to his mother about this time.
The former of these who could be trusted--for Lady Mary was no Court
sycophant and lied to no one--writes as follows of Frederick:--
“Our young Prince, the Duke of Gloucester”--he had just received that
title from his grandfather, but the patent never passed the Seal--“has
all the accomplishments which it is possible to have at his age, with
an air of sprightliness and understanding, and something so very
engaging and easy in his behaviour that he needs not the advantage of
his rank to appear charming. I had the honour of a long conversation
with him last night before the King came in. His governor retired on
purpose, as he told me afterwards that I might make some judgment of
his genius by hearing him speak without constraint, and I was surprised
by the quickness and politeness that appeared in everything that he
said, joined to a person perfectly agreeable, and the fine fair hair of
the Princess.”
So much for little Prince Frederick at the age of nine. It may be here
explained that his mother Caroline, Princess of Wales, had beautiful
fair hair and a lovely skin; she was said also to possess the finest
bust in Europe.
But from the very favourable account of Lady Mary we have to turn to
the other, that of his governor, and that is far from flattering.
Indeed, in this record we shall be continually turning from good
report to evil report, and from evil report back again to the good. It
will be necessary later to draw a line and divide the makers of these
reports into two distinct parties, the prejudiced and interested, the
unprejudiced, those who had nothing to gain by vilifying him.
But on the occasion we refer to, the governor of the young Prince had a
good deal to say; he spoke with feeling, as one who had suffered, and
most probably he had: he reveals a very pitiable state of affairs.
His complaints were embodied in a letter to Prince Frederick’s mother,
and were as follows; he was a precocious youth--it must be remembered
he was only nine years old--he already _gambled_ and _drank_.
The Princess of Wales, however, made light of the matter.
“Ah,” she answered, “I perceive that these are the tricks of a page.”
To which his irate governor responded:
“Plût à Dieu, madame,” he virtuously answered, “these are not the
tricks of a page; these are the tricks of a lacquey and a rascal!”
It is pretty certain that young as the boy was his life was developing
on the same lines as his father and grandfather, for which their
bad example and the lonely state in which he lived was undoubtedly
accountable.
George the First, however, when he visited Hanover in 1716 found no
fault with his grandson. He appears to have been one of the few friends
the boy had. He evidently approved of him in every way whether he knew
of the child’s growing bad habits or not. He was especially pleased
that he held courts and levees at Herrenhausen in his absence and as a
mark of his general approval created the boy Duke of Gloucester, but as
it has been already stated the patent never passed the Seal, probably
because the title chosen had proved a very unlucky one in former cases.
_A propos_ of this visit of King George to Hanover--the first since
his accession to the English throne two years before--Lady Mary
Wortley-Montagu writes:--
“This town is neither large nor handsome, but the palace capable of
holding a greater Court than that of St. James’s. The King has had the
kindness to appoint us a lodging in one part, without which we should
be very ill-accommodated, for the vast number of English crowds the
town so much it is very good luck to get one sorry room in a miserable
tavern.... The King’s company of French comedians play here every
night; they are very well dressed, and some of them not ill actors.
His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. The Court is very
numerous, and its affability and goodness make it one of the most
agreeable places in the world.”[9]
Lady Mary writes again to another friend:
“I have now got into the region of beauty. All the women have literally
rosy cheeks, snowy foreheads and bosoms; jet eyebrows and scarlet
lips, to which they generally add coal black hair. These perfections
never leave them until the hour of their deaths, and have a very fine
effect by candlelight. But I could wish them handsome with a little
more variety. They resemble one of the beauties of Mrs. Salmon’s Court
of Great Britain,[10] and are in as much danger of melting away
by approaching too close to the fire, which they for that reason,
carefully avoid, though it is now such excessive cold weather that I
believe they suffer extremely by that piece of self-denial.”
This bit of satire apparently was directed at the Hanoverian ladies’
excessive fat.
But Lady Mary was charmed with Herrenhausen.
“I was very sorry,” she writes, “that the ill weather did not permit me
to see Herrenhausen in all its beauty, but in spite of the snow I think
the gardens very fine. I was particularly surprised at the vast number
of orange trees, much larger than any I have ever seen in England,
though this climate is certainly colder.”[11]
It appears from the account in Mr. Wilkins’ “Caroline the Illustrious,”
that King George enjoyed himself immensely during this 1716 visit
to Hanover, and that he found much pleasure in the society of the
beautiful but unscrupulous Countess Platen, from whom he had been
separated for two years. Lady Mary Montagu herself, too, was not
without favour in His Majesty’s eyes. The King-Elector, however, had
also brought with him the remainder of the harem, viz., Schulemburg and
Kielmansegge, with the two Turks presumably to look after them.
Yet with all this trouble around him King George found life
pleasurable. In the above account Lord Peterborough, who was in his
suite, is represented as remarking of him that “he believed he had
forgotten the accident which happened to him and his family on the 1st
August, 1714.”
But time passed on, and the King returned once more to England, leaving
his little nine-year-old grandson to the tender care, officially, of
his brother Ernest Augustus and his governors, but unofficially to the
society of such grooms and hangers-on of the palace who could throw
themselves, to the boy’s ruin, in his way.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu to the Countess of Bristol, 25th
November, 1716. Wilkins’ “Caroline.”
[10] A celebrated waxwork show in London at that time.
[11] Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu to the Lady Rich, Hanover, 1st
December, 1716. From Wilkins’ “Caroline.”