Glimpses of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide: In Letters of the Late Miss Clitherow, of Boston House, Middlesex. With a Brief Account of Boston House and the Clitherow FamilyClitherow, Mary
History
Glimpses of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide: In Letters of the Late Miss Clitherow, of Boston House, Middlesex. With a Brief Account of Boston House and the Clitherow Family
Clitherow, Mary
Adelaide, Queen, consort of William IV, King of Great Britain, 1792-1849; William IV, King of Great Britain, 1765-1837
'After the drive she took them into her room, and clasped a bracelet
round Jane's arm, begging her to wear it for her sake, and, as the
stone was an amethyst, the A would remind her of Adelaide, and then she
kissed her cheek. To my brother she presented a silver medallion of the
King, telling him her name was on the back, and he must keep it for her
sake. She always has something obliging and kind to say. She sent a
ticket for her box at Drury Lane. It was "Admit Colonel and Mrs.
Clitherow." Jane asked her if that meant two places. "No, no; the whole
box, to be sure. It holds eight. But, when I name one of you, I cannot
help naming both."
'King William IV. forgot little me when he sent his commands. On their
going in he said: "Where is Miss Clitherow? I hope illness has not
prevented her.' On an explanation, "Then next Monday meet us at dinner
at Bushey, and bring your sister with you.' And we did meet them. The
King came over with Wyattville to inspect Hampton Court Palace. The
Queen followed, to dine with him at their dear Bushey. They returned to
Windsor at ten, the Princess Augusta to town. Only Lady Falkland and
Miss Wilson attended the Queen. The company were the inmates of Hampton
Court, where we have never visited, and therefore to me the dinner was
dull.'
At this time there was a grave political crisis through the action of
the House of Lords respecting the Reform Bill. The Cabinet advised the
King to create a batch of peers to form a Whig majority, as had been
done by Harley in 1711. This, however, the King refused to do, and Lord
Grey consequently resigned. The letters which passed between Lord Grey
and the King at this time are of considerable interest, and show that
the King exercised a greater influence and tact as a ruler than has
generally been ascribed to him. The Duke of Wellington was summoned,
but could not meet with sufficient support to accept office. Earl Grey,
therefore, returned to power, and the deadlock was removed by the King
persuading the Duke of Wellington and some of the peers who supported
him to absent themselves from the division on the Reform Bill, and thus
allow it to pass.[*] Miss Clitherow touches but lightly on this
subject, but it seemed desirable to put the facts before the reader.
Her letter proceeds:
[*] There are several letters on this subject towards the end of vol.
ii. of 'The Correspondence of the Late Earl Grey with H.M. King William
IV., and with Sir Hubert Taylor,' edited by his son, and published by
John Murray in 1867. Anyone desiring to have a clear idea of the
political anxieties which Miss Clitherow tells us harassed the King
would do well to consult this interesting work.
'The Thursday after we went to see Lady Falkland, who is on a visit to
papa King. We found her, her widowed sister Lady Augusta Kennedy, and
Miss Wilson very comfortably at work. They were the two Fitz-Clarences;
we saw a good deal of them when they lived at Bushey.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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