Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 2 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte — John Shaqi
Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 2 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess CharlotteHamilton, Anne, Lady
History
Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume 2 (of 2): Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte
Hamilton, Anne, Lady
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821; George III, King of Great Britain, 1738-1820 -- Relations with courts and courtiers; George IV, King of Great Britain, 1762-1830 -- Relations with courts and courtiers; Great Britain -- Court and courtiers -- History -- 18th ce
Previous to the funeral, some difficulty arose from an uncertainty
_where_ the deceased queen had kept her cash; and, without any ceremony,
Mr. Wilde took up her majesty's watch, (the one presented by the
inhabitants of Coventry, and which was very valuable) and said, "I will
advance forty pounds, and return the watch when the money is paid!!!"
Yet, at the time of her majesty's death, she must have been in
possession of fourteen or fifteen hundred pounds! because Mr. Obequina
had advanced the queen, but a few days before her death, the sum of two
thousand pounds; and it was an indisputable fact, that not more than
four or five hundred pounds had been expended out of this sum. The queen
deposited this money where she always kept her trinkets, in a small blue
box. In this box also her majesty frequently kept the Coventry watch,
(which she seldom wore) as well as two miniature pictures of herself.
This identical box, the executors gave into the care of Lord Hood; but
he very properly refused to receive it, until they locked it and took
the key. Dr. Lushington promised one of the miniatures to Lady Hamilton,
and the other to William Austin, the protégé of the ill-fated queen;
but, up to this period, such promise has not been fulfilled in either
case.
It is well known that the queen, in her jocular moments, used to say,
"They did not like my young bones, so they shall not have my old ones;"
and, in her last illness, her majesty unfortunately added, "and that as
soon as possible." This formed an excuse for the tools of George the
Fourth to hurry her funeral beyond all decorum; as, in one single week
after her majesty's death, did Lord Liverpool order that all the
cavalcade should be ready. The route was chalked out, and strict orders
given that, on no account, was the procession to go through the city;
but every avenue was so choked up and barricaded by overturned coaches,
carts, and rubbish, that they were _obliged_, at Piccadilly, to turn
through Hyde Park; and, at Cumberland Gate, the scene of bloodshed
commenced. We observed a pool of blood in the gateway, and a woman with
her face all over blood, and two men lying dead. The people had pulled
down the wall and railing for a hundred yards opposite Connaught-place;
and the horse-soldiers (the Blues, we think) were pursuing the unarmed
multitude down the park. A spent ball had fallen _very near the hearse_,
and a gentleman in the retinue got off his horse, picked it up, and
said, "This will be proof against them." At last Sir Robert Wilson,
being a military man, rode up to the soldiers, and contrived to end the
combat. The procession was then suffered to pass quietly along Edgeware
and the New Roads till it came opposite to Portland-road, when the same
obstructions of overturned carts, waggons, &c., prevented the cavalcade
from continuing along the City-road, or turning into _any street_
eastward, until it arrived at Temple Bar, when it turned into the city,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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