io8 



ROYAL GARDENS 



and her husband took the greatest interest in planning and 

 carrying out numerous improvements in gardens and pleasure 

 grounds. The natural advantages of the place made all 

 such w^ork well worth doing. The park contains about 300 

 acres, is very well wooded and has a pleasantly undulating 

 surface. The views from its highest points are extensive 

 and extremely picturesque. From one hill, on a clear day, 

 London in one direction, Windsor in another, and the beauti- 

 ful hills near Guildford in a third can be seen. And nearer, 

 the trees planted about fifty years before by Brown and Kent, 

 as well as those — now nearly one hundred years old — by 

 Pelham, had become thoroughly established and well grown. 

 Many years earlier Thomson in his Seasons had said : 



" Claremont's terraced height and Esher's groves, 

 Where in the sweetest solitude, embraced 

 By the soft windings of the gentle Mole, 

 From courts and senates Pelham found repose." 



Here, also, it is to be hoped, Princess Charlotte found relief 

 and repose after her unhappy childhood. At any rate it is 

 certain both she and her husband were as seldom away as 

 possible. One short visit to her favourite aunt. Princess 

 Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, at Bagshot Park and a few 

 formal attendances at Court, where she was not too warmly 

 welcomed by her grandmother and father, were about the 

 only occasions of her absence from Claremont during the few 

 months she lived to enjoy it. Possibly dislike of the house 

 selected for her in London may have had something to do 

 with her reluctance to spend much time there. Camelford 

 House was said to have had " nothing to command special 

 attention unless it be its mean and dingy appearance." Both 

 its situation and approach as well as its looks seem to have 

 been unattractive to the Princess. At the time of her death 

 negotiations for the lease or purchase of Marlborough House 

 were under consideration, but were not completed when that 

 most pathetic event occurred. 



In the spring and summer of 18 17 many alterations in 



