Lord Hervey relates in his Memoirs that on the occasion of the next visit of the Princess to the Court, she was subjected by the Queen to a series of questions, perhaps quite natural under the circumstances. To these questions she received from the Princess of Wales but one answer throughout:--“I don’t know.” Being at last wearied with this continual repetition of the same response, she changed the subject. But in the light of other events it is perfectly clear that the Princess had her answer prepared beforehand, and was determined she would give the Queen as little information on the subject as possible. There cannot be a doubt that the Prince and Princess had made their minds up together on this point, and that they had some very good reason for it. What was that reason? A study of the events that followed will probably disclose the answer. The most circumstantial record of these events is undoubtedly that given by Lord Hervey, though written with great bias, and his usual endeavour to blacken the Prince’s character as much as possible. There appears to have been a strong desire on the part of the King and Queen that the Princess’s lying-in should take place at Hampton Court, and an equally strong determination on the part of the Prince and Princess that it should not. This intense desire of the King and Queen that the young Princess should lie-in at Hampton Court seems to have exceeded all bounds. So much did the Queen work upon the feelings of the King and Sir Robert Walpole--she seems to have been the Prime mover--that it was decided to send a message to the Prince of Wales _commanding_ that the Princess should lie-in at Hampton Court. They seem to have had some insane idea that there would be a supposititious child, though why this should be needed, in the case of a healthy young man and woman, never transpired. The message, however, was never sent, according to Lord Hervey, though some writers say it was. If it was not it was certainly owing to the wisdom of Walpole. “At her labour I will positively be,” remarked the Queen, “for she cannot be brought to bed as quick as one can blow one’s nose, and I will be sure it is her child.” What was the reason of this absurd anxiety? It is impossible to say with certainty what was passing in the minds of these young people at this time; the girl wife of eighteen, and her husband who, among all his many relatives, could not rely upon one as a friend. There must, however, have been some very strong motive--a feeling which they held in sympathy, to have caused them to have acted as they did.