The Queen, of course, lost very little time in turning her unfortunate maid-of-honour out of the Palace as soon as she was fit to go, and her family accentuated the Queen’s action by at once turning their backs upon her. The Prince did what little he was able to do to atone in a way for the great injury he had done her. He took a house for her and her child in Grosvenor Street, and provided her with an income out of the uncertain allowance he received from the King. This affair, there is no doubt, laid the foundation of those debts which grew to be such a weight round his neck later on. This state of affairs having continued for some time, there however appeared on the scene a remarkable person in the shape of Lady Archibald Hamilton, who from that time forth exerted a strong--and baneful--influence on the Prince’s life.[26] Lady Archibald was five-and-thirty, the mother of ten children, and is said not to have possessed any special good looks, but she must, however, have been possessed of a strong will and a subtle power of fascination--which many plain women have--for she in a very short time subjugated the Prince of Wales and tied him, in the public gaze, at any rate, to her chariot wheels. The very first act of this woman as is so often the case, was to turn the power she had gained against the poor girl, her rival, whose reputation the Prince had ruined. She urged him to get rid of her. There is no question whatever that the Prince was at this time thoroughly fascinated by Lady Archibald. Lord Hervey, who plays a wretched part in this episode, comments on his infatuation as follows: “He,” the Prince, “saw her often at her own house, where he seemed as welcome to the master as the mistress; he met her often at her sister’s; walked with her day after day for hours together _tête-à-tête_ in a morning in St. James’s Park; and whenever she was at the Drawing Room (which was pretty frequent) his behaviour was so remarkable that his nose and her ear were inseparable.” Lord Hervey, it has been said, played a despicable part in this affair, more despicable perhaps because he had been the Prince’s friend--a very false one. John, Lord Hervey, was the eldest son of the first Earl of Bristol, had been Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George the Second when Prince of Wales, and was a great favourite with Caroline the Queen. It is difficult to estimate the amount of mischief this wretched man made between the Queen and her son, the Prince of Wales; one thing is quite certain, and that is, that from the time a coolness sprang up between the Prince and Lord Hervey--and there was good reason for it as will be seen--things began to take a much worse turn between the former and his royal parents.