Fitzherbert, Maria Anne, 1756-1837; George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830
'His Royal Highness then proceeded to state, that a creditor of Mrs.
Fitzherbert had made a very peremptory demand for the payment of about
sixteen hundred pounds: that Mr. Weltje had been sent by his Royal
Highness to the creditor making such demand, to desire that it might
be placed to the Prince's account: this, the creditor refused to do,
on the ground that Mrs. Fitzherbert, _being a woman of no rank, or
consideration, in the eye of the law, as to personal privilege, was
amenable to an immediate process_, which was not the case with his
Royal Highness. This, the Prince stated, to have caused in his mind the
greatest uneasiness, for fear of the consequences that might ensue; as
it was not in the power of his Royal Highness to pay the money then,
or to name an earlier period for so doing than three or four months.
The request, therefore, that his Royal Highness had to make to me was,
that I would interfere upon the occasion, and prevent, if possible, any
personal inconvenience to Mrs. Fitzherbert, which would be attended
with extreme mortification to the feelings of his Royal Highness.
'I assured his Royal Highness that I would do all I could in the
business; and I was appointed to attend, with the result of my
endeavours, at Carlton House, the next morning. I did attend, as
appointed, and presented the Prince of Wales with a receipt for the
whole sum:--_fifteen hundred and eighty-five pounds, eleven shillings,
and sevenpence, which I had, that morning, paid, being the only
effectual means of pacifying the creditor, and removing from the mind
of his Royal Highness, the anxiety he appeared so strongly to labor
under_.
'His Royal Highness was unbounded in his expressions of satisfaction at
what I had so promptly accomplished, and in his assurances of future
support, a support so strongly made, and so frequently repeated, as
well as accompanied with such _apparent_ marks of sincerity, as to have
fixed my faith, (even had it been wavering) in the entire confidence I
might place in all his promises and assurances.
'But what will the world think, or say, when I inform them, that in ten
long years of the most bitter adversity, occasioned by a continuance of
similar confidence, I have repeatedly applied, in vain, to his Royal
Highness for relief, even in any degree to which he might have been
induced, or enabled to have afforded it me, but he has ever been deaf
to my entreaties.
'The moment misfortune overtook me, the Prince of Wales totally
deserted me; and my services, and his promises, were then alike
forgotten.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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