The Regent's Daughter: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

have not seen the Princess of Wales for weeks’ – when she had seen her but a few days before. Dr Nott took her to task for this habit; she must overcome it; to lie was a sin.
    ‘Yes, yes, dear Notty,’ she would cry, ‘but the Prince does not want to hear that I have seen my mother. I was thinking of his comfort, and should one not think of the comfort of one’s parents? One must honour one’s father and mother, but you must admit, Notty, that when they don’t honour each other that puts their offspring in a delicate situation.’
    He was not going to be involved, dear Notty, who was far too meek to teach the Princess Charlotte; and because she was fond of him even though she liked to disconcert him now – she was always quick to come to his rescue and would add: ‘But I will try to be truthful. I do realize that one should be.’
    Oh dear, she thought, how shut in I am at Windsor. And what is happening at Montague House?
    She smiled, thinking of it – her mother’s home. The Princess of Wales embracing her when she arrived. ‘My angel, my pet, let me look at you. Why, you are lovely … lovely … though the image of your father! Ha, ha, he could not disown you if he tried. And he’d like to … just to put me out. But he can’t, not with those eyes of yours. You’re one of them , my precious darling.’
    Hot, rather suffocating embraces, not always very fragrant. Mamma did not like bathing and her women found it very difficult to make her change her clothes. ‘Come along in, my sweetest.’ Arms entwined, into the drawing room, which was not really like a royal drawing room.
    ‘We are having a special entertainment for you, my darling. Oh, not a silly children’s party. You would not like that. And no ceremonies, eh? Enough of them with de old Begum, and de bulls and cows.’ Mamma laughed wildly. ‘Bulls and cows’ was Charlotte’s own name for her numerous uncles and aunts which, in a careless moment, she had whispered to her mother. The Princess of Wales loved laughing at the family into which she had married. And it was not surprising, for they all hated her and had been most unkind to her, with the exception of the King, of course. Dear Grandpapa would never be unkind to anyone. And there was another secret. She had long been aware of how everyone watched him as though expecting him to do something odd. She often wondered what. Perhaps it was to die – but that was not so very odd. Dear Grandpapa, she wanted himto go on living for a long, long time. She would tell him so. Oh no, she would not, because then he wondered whether anyone had discussed his death before her.
    How careful one has to be in a family like ours, thought Charlotte.
    She was shut in by people who watched her all the time because she was an heir to the throne. The only thing that could prevent her attaining it, as far as she could see, would be the birth of a brother to her parents. And that was most unlikely.
    She did love some of these people who surrounded her – Dr Nott, for one. Well, hardly loved, but she was fond of him. Perhaps the two she loved most were her dressers Mrs Gagarin and Miss Louisa Lewis. They were comforting as one imagined mothers might be. They scolded in a tender way which pleased her so much that she often behaved in such a way as to provoke their reproaches.
    But she did not talk to them of what happened at her mother’s house. She was aware when they accompanied her there of their silent disapproval. Mamma never gave them a thought. She never altered anything because they were there. At the entertainments she gave she laughed wildly as she ran about playing Blind Man’s Buff, her eyes bandaged, her arms outstretched, and she always caught one of the gentlemen and the forfeit for being caught was a kiss. There was always a great deal of kissing going on at Mamma’s parties and there were always plenty of bluff hearty gentlemen living in the house, it seemed. They were very courteous to Charlotte