Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 2 (of 2)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 2 (of 2)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Hanover, House of; Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography
During 1815 the Princess was ever restless and on the move. She was
now entirely surrounded by Italians. Mr. St. Leger refused to be of
her household, nor would he allow his daughter to be of it. Many
others were applied to, but with similar success. Sir Humphrey and
Lady Davy also declined the honour offered them. Mr. William Rose,
Mr. Davenport, and Mr. Hartup pleaded other engagements. Dr. Holland,
Mr. North, and Mrs. Falconet were no longer with her. Lord Malpas
begged to be excused, and Lady Charlotte Campbell withdrew, after her
Royal Highness’s second arrival at Milan. The Princess, however, had
no difficulty in forming an Italian Court. Some of her appointments
were unexceptionable. Such were those of Dr. Machetti, her physician,
and of the Chevalier Chiavini, her first equerry. Many of the Italian
nobility now took the place of former English visitors at her ‘court,’
and two of the brothers of Bergami held respectable offices in her
household, while the Countess of Oldi, sister of the chamberlain, was
appointed sole lady of honour to the lady, her mistress. On several of
the excursions made by her Royal Highness from her villa on the Lake of
Como to Milan, Venice, and other parts of Italy, she was accompanied
by Mr. Burrell, a son of Lord Gwydyr. This gentleman ultimately took
his leave of her in August, to return to England. He was sojourning
at Brussels, on his way, when his servant, White, narrated to his
fellows some accounts of what he described as the very loose way of
life of the Princess at Milan. These stories, all infamous, but few,
perhaps, which could not be traced back to some indiscretion of this
most unhappy lady, and marvellously amplified and exaggerated, came
to the ears of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, then sojourning
at the same hotel; and it is declared that on the report made by the
former to his brother, the Regent, was founded the famous ‘Milan
Commission,’ which was one of investigation, appointed to sit at Milan,
to inquire into the conduct of the Princess, and to report accordingly.
The commissioners sat and took evidence without making the Princess
aware of the fact; and to an indignant remonstrance addressed to the
Regent, wherein she demanded to know the object of the commission, no
answer was returned. It was soon known, however, that the report was
of a most condemnatory character, but no proceedings were immediately
instituted. Meanwhile, the Princess continued her roving life, now
on sea, now on land; now on board the ‘Leviathan,’ and sometimes on
the backs of horses or mules. Her familiarity on all these occasions
with her chamberlain was offensive to persons of strict ideas and good
principles, and those were precisely the persons whose prejudices she
loved, perhaps out of mere mischief, to startle. He dined with her at
her table, and she leant upon his arm in their walks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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