Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 1 (of 2)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 1 (of 2)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Hanover, House of; Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography
The Queen slept that night at Witham, and the next day went slowly and
satisfiedly on as far as ancient Romford, where she alighted at the
house of a Mr. Dalton, a wine-merchant. In this asylum she remained
about an hour, until the arrival of the royal servants and carriages
from London which were to meet her. The servants having commenced
their office with their new mistress by serving her with coffee, the
Queen entered the royal carriage, in which she was accompanied by the
Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton. As it is stated by the recorders
of the incidents of that day that her Majesty was attired ‘entirely in
the English taste,’ it may be worth adding, to show what that taste
was, that ‘she wore a fly-cap with rich lace lappets, a stomacher
ornamented with diamonds, and a gold brocade suit of clothes with a
white ground.’ Thus decked out, the Queen, preceded by three carriages
containing ladies from Mecklenburgh and lords from St. James’s, was
conveyed through lines of people, militia, and horse and foot guards
to London. ‘She was much amused,’ says Mrs. Stuart, ‘at the crowds of
people assembled to see her, and bowed as she passed. She was hideously
dressed in a blue satin quilted jesuit, which came up to her chin
and down to her waist, her hair twisted up into knots called a _tête
de mouton_, and the strangest little blue coif at the top. She had a
great jewel like a Sevigné, and earrings like those now worn, with many
drops, a present from the Empress of Russia, who knew of her marriage
before she did herself.’ She entered the capital by the suburb of Mile
End, which for dirt and misery could hardly be equalled by anything at
Mirow and Strelitz. Having passed through Whitechapel, which must have
given her no very high idea of the civilisation of the British people,
she passed on westward, and proceeding by the longest route, continued
along Oxford Street to Hyde Park, and finally reached the garden-gate
of St. James’s at three in the afternoon. Before she left Romford,
one of the English ladies in attendance recommended her to ‘curl her
_toupée_; she said she thought it looked as well as that of any of the
ladies sent to fetch her; if the King bid her she would wear a periwig;
otherwise she would remain as she was.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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