When the eldest son of George the Third assumed the Regency, England
was in a state of political transition. The convulsions of the
Continent were felt amongst us; the very foundations of European
society were shaking, and the social relations of men were rapidly
changing. The Regent's natural leanings were towards the Tories;
therefore as soon as he undertook the responsibility of power, he
abruptly abandoned the Whigs and retained in office the admirers and
partisans of his father's policy. This resolution caused him to have
innumerable and inveterate enemies, who never lost an opportunity of
attacking his public acts and interfering with his domestic relations.
The Regent was singularly imbued with petty royal pride. He would
rather be amiable and familiar with his tailor than agreeable and
friendly with the most illustrious of the aristocracy of Great Britain;
he would rather joke with a Brummell than admit to his confidence a
Norfolk or a Somerset. The Regent was always particularly well-bred in
public, and showed, if he chose, decidedly good manners; but he was in
the habit very often of addressing himself in preference to those whom
he felt he could patronise. His Royal Highness was as much the victim
of circumstances and the child of thoughtless imprudence as the most
humble subject of the crown. His unfortunate marriage with a Princess
of Brunswick originated in his debts; as he married that unhappy lady
for one million sterling, William Pitt being the contractor! The
Princess of Wales married nothing but an association with the Crown of
England. If the Prince ever seriously loved any woman, it was Mrs.
Fitzherbert, with whom he had appeared at the altar.
Public opinion in England, under the inspiration of the Whigs, raised a
cry of indignation against the Prince. It was imagined, I presume,
that royal personage should be born without heart or feeling; that he
should have been able to live only for the good of the State and for
the convenience of his creditors. The Princess of Wales was one of the
most unattractive and almost repulsive women for an elegant-minded man
that could well have been found amongst German royalty. It is not my
intention to recall the events of the Regency. It is well known that
the Prince became eventually so unpopular as to exclude himself as much
as possible from public gaze. His intimate companions, after the trial
of Queen Caroline, were Lords Cunningham and Fife, Sir Benjamin
Bloomfield, Sir William Macmahon, Admiral Nagle, Sir A. Barnard, Lords
Glenlyon, Hertford, and Lowther. These gentlemen generally dined with
him; the dinner being the artistic product of that famous gastronomic
savant, Wattiers. The Prince was very fond of listening after dinner
to the gossip of society. When he became George the Fourth, no change
took place in these personnels at the banquet, excepting that with the
fruits and flowers of the table was introduced the beautiful
Marchioness of Conyngham, whose brilliant wit, according to the
estimation of his Majesty, surpassed that of any other of his friends,
male or female.