The Third George: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free PDF

Pitt, Fox was perhaps the greatest politician of the day.
    But that would not be for long, George knew. His friend Lord Bute was already making plans to remove all those who stood in his way including Mr Pitt – for the reason that Mr Pitt was no friend to Lord Bute and had made it quite clear that he would not give him a high place in the Government.
    George had decided that he must do his duty which his mother and Lord Bute had made clear to him. Kings of the House of Hanover always married German princesses; he could not marry this young English girl, although she had royal blood in her veins (the wrong side of the blanket, the Dowager Princess of Wales pointed out, for the girl’s great-grandmother was Louise de Keroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth, and her great-grandfather Charles II). As Sarah was the sister-in-law of Henry Fox this would mean that that very ambitious politician would have far too much influence with the King; moreover, the girlwas frivolous and both Lord Bute and the Princess Dowager agreed that if they were going to maintain their hold on the King he must marry a docile German princess – preferably one who spoke no English. This would leave them entirely in control of George as they had been since his father’s death.
    So together they had managed to persuade George of his duty, which had been made easier by that earlier disastrous affair of Hannah Lightfoot, the beautiful young Quakeress with whom George had fancied himself in love over several years and was so besotted that he had set her up in a house in Islington, had had children by her and even committed the greatest indiscretion of all by going through a form of marriage with her.
    It was the memory of Hannah which had made George realize the folly he was capable of when he acted without the advice of his friend Lord Bute and, his mother.
    And so, while he yearned for Sarah Lennox, he agreed to this marriage which they had arranged for him. And now he was desperately trying to put all thought of Sarah from his mind and fall in love with the Princess Charlotte, for he was determined to be a faithful husband and a good king. He was eager that the Court under his direction should be a moral Court. His grandfather and his great-grandfather had openly flaunted their mistresses. That was shocking, George declared, and had determined that a new standard of morals was going to be set in the reign of George III; if he had to make sacrifices, he was ready to do so.
    Never in his life, he assured himself, would he be asked to make a bigger one than this. Therefore he set about making plans for his wedding, throwing himself into the arrangements heart and soul, in this way hoping to drive Sarah from his thoughts.
    ‘There shall be no vulgar ceremony in the bedchamber,’ he announced. ‘I have long thought it time we dispensed with that ceremony which after all comes to us from the French.’
    His mother and Lord Bute listened delightedly. ‘Let him do what he will as long as he agrees to the marriage,’ said Lord Bute.
    ‘I shall not wish her to bring more than one or two attendants with her,’ went on George. ‘These people are apt to meddle.’
    His mother and Lord Bute agreed sympathetically that this was true.
    ‘Your Majesty does well to take a firm stand,’ Bute told him.
    The Princess Augusta shot a warning look at Lord Bute. Perhaps they should not remind George that he was the King and could do as he pleased. What if he decided to use the royal prerogative and insist on marriage with Sarah Lennox?
    But Lord Bute knew what he was doing. The Princess smiled fondly at the man who was her secret lover – though perhaps not so secret, for the whole Court was aware of their liaison and these titbits of gossip never remained inside the Court but always filtered through to the people.
    Lord Bute gave her their intimate smile which seemed to say: ‘You can trust me.’ And she believed she could.
    ‘How long, I wonder,’ said George,