'At half past three the Royal party returned to the Pavilion, where the Prince of Wales's band was playing to receive them. Her Royal Highness, the Princess Charlotte of Wales, after partaking of some refreshments, walked on the lawn with her Royal uncles, who seemed to vie with each other in attention to her. The Duke of Cambridge danced with her on the lawn, and at six o'clock she returned to Worthing. At eight o'clock the Royal party, the Duke of St. Albans, the Marquis of Headford, Earls Berkeley, Craven, Dursley, Bathurst and Barrymore, Viscount Melbourne, Lords Petersham, Erskine, and Charles, Edward and Arthur Somerset, and several military officers, sat down to dinner. The Pavilion was most brilliantly lighted, and the South Gloucester band played on the Steyne. The illuminations were splendid. The Prince attended the ball at the Castle in the evening, which was crowded with fashion and beauty, but none of the Royal party joined in the dance. The supper was of the first description, but would have been better enjoyed had the company been less numerous. The Prince retired at an early hour.' [Illustration: Decorative motif] FOOTNOTES: [76] An arrangement which was satisfactorily effected. [Illustration: Decorative panel] CHAPTER XVII. Final rupture between the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert--That lady and William IV.--Her kindly relations with the Royal Family--Her death--The King's illness--The Regency--Visitors at the Pavilion--Queen Charlotte there--The 'Royal Rantipoles.' The episode of Miss Seymour indirectly led to the final separation of the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert, which was mainly brought about by her false friend, Lady Hertford. Lord Stourton, speaking of the Mary Seymour incident, says: 'This long negotiation, in which the Prince was the principal instrument, led him, at last, to those confidential relations which, ultimately, gave to Lady Hertford, an ascendancy over him, superior to that possessed by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself; and, from a friend, converted her into a successful rival. Lady Hertford, anxious for the preservation of her own reputation, which she was not willing to compromise with the public, even when she ruled the Prince with the most absolute sway, exposed Mrs. Fitzherbert, at this time, to very severe trials, which, at last, almost, as she said, ruined her health and destroyed her nerves. Attentions were required from her towards Lady Hertford herself, even when most aware of her superior influence over the Prince, and these attentions were extorted by the menace of taking away her child. To diminish her apparent influence in public, as well as in private, was now the object. When at Brighton, the Prince, who had passed part of his mornings with Mrs. Fitzherbert on friendly terms at her own house, did not even notice her in the slightest manner at the Pavilion on the same evenings, and she, afterwards, understood that such attentions would have been reported to her rival.