‘The two factions,’ says Lord Malmesbury, ‘pulled different ways. Ladies Moira, Hutchinson, and Mrs. Fitzherbert were for his ceding the child to the King; the Duke of Clarence and Devonshire House most violent against it, and the Prince was inclined to the faction he saw last. In the Devonshire House cabal Lady Melbourne and Mrs. Fox act conspicuous parts, so that the alternative for our future Queen seems to be whether _Mrs. Fox_ or _Mrs. Fitzherbert_ shall have the ascendancy.’ Father and son had an interview. After a whole year’s estrangement, for _one day_ child and parent agreed tolerably well; but they did not long continue to be of one mind. The conduct of the Prince was insulting to the authority of the King and to his office as father. To some extremely sensible remarks on the educational plan best calculated to promote the welfare and happiness of the Princess, her father, the Prince of Wales, returned an answer so improperly worded that the Chancellor declined to present it to the King. The latter was made irritable and ill at no answer having reached him from the Prince, and he was only beguiled into patience by being misinformed that the Prince had misconceived the King’s letter, and that it was necessary to set him right on the misconceived points before a reply could be expected. The Queen was rendered more anxious than any other member of the royal family, of whom Lord Malmesbury simply records that ‘the sons behave tolerably, the princesses most perfectly.’ At this time the Queen, with all her natural anxiety, exhibited some strangeness of conduct. ‘She will never receive the King,’ says the noble diarist just quoted, ‘without one of the princesses being present; piques herself on this discreet silence, and, when in London, locks the door of her _white room_ (her _boudoir_) against him. The behaviour of the Queen alarms me more than all the other of Mrs. Harcourt’s stories; for if the Queen did not think the King likely to relapse she would not alter in her manners towards him, and her having altered her manners proves that she thinks he _may_ relapse.’