The Captive of Kensington Palace Read Online Free PDF Page B

different from his parents who rather terrified Adelaide. She could never quite be sure what they were plotting.
    There was one absentee from the parties: little Victoria from Kensington. It was a shame. Adelaide often thought of the child – a lively, pretty little creature, bubbling over with affection. But her mother would not allow her to come to Bushy while the FitzClarence grandchildren were there. She implied that Adelaide should banish the youngsters – as if she could! They were William’s grandchildren, and therefore hers. But the Duchess of Kent did not wish her Victoria to be contaminated by what she called the ‘bastidry’. Really, she was a difficult woman! She incensed William who could grow incoherent with rage when he discussed her. The King himself was irritated by her. Adelaide had tried to make harmony in the family, but with a woman such as the Duchess of Kent who had such grand ideas of her position in the country – through her daughter, of course – it was certainly difficult. So dear little Victoria was not allowed to join the gay parties at Bushy and share in the fun. It was wrong. Children were not meant to be so serious – even if there was a possibility of their mounting the throne. Childhood was a carefree time. Poor little Victoria!
    Had Adelaide’s own darling Elizabeth lived, this glittering possibility might have been banished from Victoria’s ambitious Mamma’s mind; but all that was left to Adelaide was a stone statue of her reclining baby – so lifelike, so beautiful that often when she was alone she would kneel by it and shed tears of sorrow.
    She did not believe that she would ever have a child now. There had been so many disappointments. It was not so much that she desired an heir to the throne; it was a baby of her own that she wanted. Alas, that blessing was denied her and she must console herself with other people’s children.
    William never reproached her. He was kind in his rough nautical way. He was devoted to his FitzClarences. They were bastards and could never mount the throne, but William did not really mind that he had no legitimate heir. As long as he himself was King that was all that concerned him.
    And there was another worry. He was becoming obsessed by the fact that the Crown could be his.
    Adelaide sighed and went to his room.
    ‘Ah, my dear Adelaide.’ He always seemed genuinely pleased to see her. He was a faithful and affectionate husband; he had not wanted to marry her particularly and had done so from expediency, but he had soon discovered the fine qualities of his dear Adelaide. He often said now in his brash way that if the most beautiful Princess in the world was offered him he would think twice before changing his Adelaide for her. It was meant to be a compliment of course. But unlike his elder brother George, the King, William had no grace of manners.
    He came towards her and embraced her. He was shorter than his brothers – red-faced, weatherbeaten and showing his sixty-three years.
    ‘The Prince will soon be arriving,’ Adelaide reminded him.
    ‘Oh yes, yes. Why we should be expected to look after the fellow, I don’t know. He’s come to marry that damned Duchess’s daughter, not one of mine.’
    Adelaide did not mention that if the young man had been coming to marry one of his daughters there would be no need for him to be received by a member of the royal family.
    ‘Her girl,’ he grumbled. ‘A pretty creature. I don’t doubt she’s glad to escape from the interfering old woman.’
    ‘Let us hope she will find happiness in marriage.’
    ‘Couldn’t be worse than living in Kensington Palace with that woman. And I suppose we’ve got to have a dinner party to entertain the fellow, eh?’
    ‘We must remember he is a visitor.’
    William was further irritated. He was enjoying the domesticity of Bushy to which he had retired in great dudgeon after having been obliged to resign his post of Lord High Admiral. That had been an