A few weeks later and the evil forebodings were realised. News came that the young Prince, the flower of his race, the darling of his mother’s heart, the idol of the court, was lost in the Morea. There were many contradictory reports: some said he was slain, others that he was only wounded, others that he was taken prisoner and carried to Constantinople. Then followed a month of wearing anxiety; the Duchess Sophia broke down under it utterly, and the Electress of Brandenburg came to comfort her mother. It was supposed, too, that Königsmarck was killed or taken prisoner. At last the suspense ended. “We have received certain news,” writes Colt, “that Prince Charles was killed on the spot where his body was found, with several of his officers and servants round him, dead. He had several cutts with a gymeker, and was run thro’ the body with a lance. Their last hope of his being a prisoner has very much increased their sorrow here, and we are going into mourning.”[44] Königsmarck was not numbered among the dead; the Königsmarck luck was on his side, and by some miracle he escaped, though the Hanoverian troops were decimated. The Duchess Sophia fell dangerously ill on receiving the news of her favourite son’s death, and the court despaired of her life. The sad affliction in which the ducal family were plunged broke down for a time all minor jealousies. The Duke of Celle came personally to Hanover to offer his condolences, and the common sorrow seemed to draw all members of the family closer together. A month later the Duchess Sophia rallied sufficiently to go with the Duke to Carlsbad to take the waters. In April Königsmarck came back to Hanover from the Morea, in company with the miserable remnant of the gallant troops who had set forth so bravely the autumn before. Some idea of the slaughter may be gained from the fact that of the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel’s contingent, which started eleven thousand strong, only one hundred and thirty returned. ----- Footnote 44: _Ibid._, Hanover, February 25, 1690. ----- The summer of 1690 was a sad one at Hanover. The death of Prince Charles and the illness of the Duchess Sophia cast a gloom over a court which as a rule suffered not death, nor sickness, nor misery to interrupt its dissipations and revelries. Prince George Louis went to Flanders to command his father’s troops, and took Prince Ernest, the youngest of the princes, with him.[45] It was not a dangerous expedition, for the troops of the Allies were for the most part mobilising this year. William of Orange was not in Flanders; he had his hands full in Ireland, where, at the head of a motley army (English, Dutch, Danish, and German—doubtless the first fruits of the great confederation), he was grappling with King James at the battle of the Boyne. ----- Footnote 45: Colt’s _Despatch_ Celle, May 27, 1690. -----