Early in the morning the Queen was again “blooded” for fever. Her bad
symptoms remained the same. This day the Prince of Wales, hearing of
his mother’s illness, came to Carlton House in Pall Mall from Kew, and
Lord Hervey, hearing of this, became much alarmed lest he should call
at the Palace and ask for his mother. He flew to the King to ask for
instructions--he was the only Lord of the Court allowed near the King
and Queen. These were instructions which no doubt gladdened the heart
of Lord Hervey:
The King said:
“If the puppy should, in one of his impertinent, affected, airs of duty
and affection, dare to come to St. James’s, I order you to go to the
scoundrel and tell him I wonder at his impudence to come here; that he
has my orders already and knows my pleasure, and bid him to go about
his business.”
Very fatherly conduct under the circumstances!
Shortly afterwards while Lord Hervey was sitting with the Duke of
Cumberland drinking tea in the Queen’s outer apartment, Lady Pembroke
approached and informed them that Lord North had just been there from
the Prince of Wales, who had desired her in the Prince’s name to let
the King and Queen know that his Royal Highness was greatly distressed
to hear of the Queen’s illness and had come to London to be near her.
The only thing which could alleviate his concern was the favour of
being allowed to see her.
The Duke, then seventeen, made the following formal answer:
“I am not a proper person, Madam, to take the charge of this message,
but there is Lord Hervey, who is the only one of papa’s servants that
sees him at present, and is just going to him; if you will deliver it
to him, he will certainly let the King know.”
Accordingly, Lady Pembroke repeated the message to Lord Hervey, who
took it to the King.
“This,” raved his Majesty, when he received it, “is like one of the
scoundrel’s tricks,” and he forthwith sent the following kind answer
to his son’s message--written at the suggestion of Lord Hervey, and
probably at his dictation also--per Lord North, to whom Lord Hervey
read it from the paper, to prevent any of “_Cartouche’s Gang_,” as the
Queen called her son’s party, from garbling it. The message was as
follows:--
“I have acquainted the King with the message sent to Lady Pembroke, and
his Majesty has ordered me to say that in the present situation and
circumstances his Majesty does not think fit that the Prince should
see the Queen, and therefore expects that he should not come to St.
James’s.”
This was considered far too mild by the King.
But the state of the Queen’s mind towards her son, even at this
unfortunate time, may be gauged by the following incident:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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