A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



probably in the Queen's Audience Chamber, 

 where a canopy of the royal damask still remains. 79 * 

 Lord Hervey gives an account of the dulness of 

 these evenings, when ' the king walked about and 

 talked (to Lord Lifford) of armies, or to Lady 

 Charlotte (his sister) of genealogies, whilst the 

 queen knotted and yawned, till from yawning she 

 came to nodding, and from nodding to snoring.' " 

 A further picture of the company is to be found 

 in Pope's ballad, ' The Challenge,' and in a letter 

 from Lord Hervey to Mrs. Clayton, although he 

 begins by saying ' I will not trouble you with any 

 account of our occupations at Hampton Court. 

 No mill-horse ever went in a more constant track, 

 or a more unchanging circle." 797 The record of 

 this last court, held every year at the palace until 

 the death of Queen Caroline, is one of court in- 

 trigues of a sordid nature, and of the king's dis- 

 agreeable manners and various flirtations, especially 

 after the departure from court of Lady Suffolk. 798 

 The queen and Lord Hervey had interminable 

 conversations and discussed every conceivable sub- 

 ject, 799 though when the king was present he took 

 pains that none of the affairs that interested the 

 queen should be mentioned. 800 



The most important domestic matter for a long 

 time seems to have been the continual state of 

 irritation and ill-feeling between the king and 

 queen and their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of 

 Wales. It came to an open climax, when the 

 prince, apparently solely in order to offend his 

 parents, and at the great risk of his wife's life, 

 contrived to remove her secretly from Hampton 

 Court in the evening of Sunday, 31 July 1737, so 

 that the birth of their eldest child might take 

 place at St. James's on the same night, without 

 the knowledge or presence of the queen. Their 

 departure took place at half-past eight, after they 

 had dined with the king and queen. The un- 

 fortunate princess was dragged down the stairs 

 behind the Prince of Wales' apartments in the 

 north-east corner of the palace, hurried, probably 

 through the cloisters past the chapel door, to one 

 of the side doors in Tennis Court Lane, and was 

 there put into a coach, accompanied by the prince, 

 Lady Archibald Hamilton and some of the 

 princess's attendants. They were driven at full 

 gallop to London, arriving at St. James's at ten 

 o'clock. Their daughter was born only an hour 

 later. 801 A courier was sent back to Hampton 



Court to announce the state of affairs, and arrived 

 at half-past one in the morning. By four o'clock 

 the queen was at St. James's and heard the prince's 

 account of what he had done. 80 * She interviewed 

 everyone concerned, and returned to Hampton 

 Court by eight o'clock in the evening. 801 The 

 king refused to see his son, 804 and Lord Carnarvon ** 

 was sent to Hampton Court with a letter, in very 

 bad French, from the prince to express his grief 

 and repentance for having incurred the displeasure 

 of his father. The king's reply was to send Lord 

 Essex with a curt message to Carnarvon, who was 

 kept waiting in one of the galleries, refusing any 

 further answer to the prince. This scene must 

 have been remarkable, and is given at length in 

 Lord Hervey's Memoirs. It is said by him to 

 have taken place in the queen's bedchamber or 

 dressing-room, the letter having been brought to 

 the king while he was at dinner in the Public 

 Dining-room. The prince was ordered to retire 

 to Kew, his usual military guard was taken away 

 as a sign of the king's displeasure, and it was noti- 

 fied to everyone likely to attend the prince's court 

 that their doing so would be disagreeable to the 

 king. 606 The court left Hampton Court on 

 28 October 1737, and on 20 November the 

 queen died, and the history of the palace as a 

 royal residence practically came to an end. 



George II never actually lived at Hampton 

 Court again after the queen's death, though he 

 sometimes came down for the day with Lady 

 Yarmouth 807 and some of the court. 



' They went in coaches and six in the middle 

 of the day, with heavy horse-guards kicking up 

 the dust before them^-dined, walked an hour in 

 the garden, returned in the same dusty parade ; 

 and his majesty fancied himself the most lively 

 and gallant prince in Europe.' " Occasionally he 

 stayed for a night or two, 809 and it is to be supposed 

 that he sometimes had his grandchildren to visit 

 him there, as to this period belongs the famous 

 story of his having on one occasion boxed the ears 

 of the young prince, afterwards George III, and 

 so disgusted him that he could never afterwards 

 bring himself to live in the palace where he had 

 suffered such an indignity. 810 



From the time of the death of George II no 

 king of England has occupied the palace. It has 

 ceased to be the scene of historical events, though 

 among its inhabitants at all periods are found the 



'" A great many of the rooms 

 appear to have been redecorated at 

 this time. In the Public Dining-room, 

 and the Queen's Presence and Guard 

 Chambers the ornamentation is clearly 

 not from any design by Sir Christo- 

 pher Wren. 



'** Hervey, Memoirs, i, 297 et seq. 



"'7 Lady SunJon's Memoirs, ii, 231. 



' M Hervey, Memoirs, i, 350, 426. 



" Ibid. 



800 She took great interest in re- 

 ligious matters, especially in the new 

 school of thought, which was con- 

 sidered advanced and daring at the 

 time. She had also some taste for art 

 and literature, and interested herself in 

 gardening and architecture. The Prin- 



cess Royal complained to Lord Hervey 

 of the king's 'unreasonable, simple, 

 uncertain, disagreeable and often shock- 

 ing behaviour to the Queen ;' Hervey, 

 Memoirs, ii, 87. 



01 Ibid, iii, 1 66, &c. 



' The Queen kissed the child and 

 said, " Le bon Dieu vous benisse pauvrc 

 petite creature, vous voila arrivee dans 

 un desagreable monde." ' Hervey, 

 Memoirs, iii, 171. 



" Ibid. 179. << Ibid. 193. 



m One of the lords of the Prince's 

 Bedchamber. 



" Walpole, Rtmin. (ed. 1819-21), 

 60-1 5 Hervey, Memoirs, !$%, 239. The 

 queen went so far as to say that she 

 hoped she should never see her son 



3 68 



again. She actually did not see him 

 on her death-bed, though she sent him 

 a message of forgiveness ; ibid. 238 ; 

 Walpole, Letters. 



^ Amalie Sophia, Frau von Wallmo- 

 den (1704-65), created Countess of 

 Yarmouth in 1740 by Geo. II ; Diet. 

 Nat. Biog. 



808 Walpole, Ran*. 62. 



809 The bed, hung with crimson silk, 

 which he generally used on these occa- 

 sions, is still in the state apartments. 



810 This story is said to have been 

 repeated to Heneage Jesse, by the per- 

 son to whom the Duke of Sussex re- 

 lated it, while passing through the 

 state apartments ; Jesse, Life of Giorgi 

 III, i, 10. 



