For eighteen months after her husband's death the Princess-Dowager of Wales remained in closest retirement. At the end of that time she reappeared in public and attended court, where, by the King's command, she received the same honours as had been paid to the late Queen Caroline. She was also made guardian of her eldest son, in case of the King's demise during the Prince of Wales' minority. William Duke of Cumberland bitterly resented this appointment as a personal affront, and declared to his friends that he now felt his own insignificance, and wished the name of William could be blotted out of the English annals. It increased his jealousy of his sister-in-law, and she, on her part, made no secret of her inveterate dislike of him. Her children were taught to regard their uncle as a monster because of his cruelties at Culloden, and he complained to the Princess-Dowager of the "base and villainous insinuations" which had poisoned their minds against him. The Princess-Dowager of Wales rarely attended St. James's except on ceremonial occasions. Nominally George II.'s court, for the last twenty years of his reign, was presided over by the King's eldest unmarried daughter, Princess Amelia, or Emily, a princess who, as years went on, lost her good looks as well as her manners. She became deaf and short-sighted, and was chiefly known for her sharp tongue and her love of scandal and high play. She had no influence with the King, and her unamiable characteristics made her unpopular with the courtiers, who treated her as a person of no importance. In reality the _dame regnante_ at St. James's was Madame de Walmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, who had been the King's mistress at Hanover. He brought her over to England the year after Queen Caroline's death, lodged her in the palace, created her a peeress, and gave her a pension. In her youth the Walmoden had been a great beauty, but as she advanced in years she became exceedingly stout. Ministers, peers, politicians, place-hunters of all kinds, even bishops and Church dignitaries, paid their court to her. She accepted all this homage for what it was worth, but though she now and then obtained a place for a favourite, she very wisely abstained from meddling in English politics, which she did not understand, and chiefly occupied herself in amassing wealth. [Illustration: MADAME DE WALMODEN, COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH. _From the Painting at Gülzow, by permission of Count Kielmansegg._]