The People's Princess by Flora Harding

Author:Flora Harding [Harding, Flora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008446932
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Chapter Twenty-Four

Weymouth, September 1814

A military band is playing the national anthem as I step down from my carriage at Gloucester Lodge. Toby and Puff jump down after me and shake themselves vigorously. A crowd has gathered on the esplanade to watch my arrival and I smile and lift a hand in acknowledgement of the rapturous reception before lifting my skirts to climb the steps into the house, somewhat stiff after the last few hours in a coach and wishing I could shake the fidgets out as easily as my dogs have done.

After the last miserable few months, it is impossible not to feel warmed by the affection the public have for me. Only last night, when we broke our journey from Windsor in Salisbury, we had to press through the eager crowd to get from the carriage to the inn. General Garth, who is now in charge of my household, was bellowing at the footmen to ‘get all these damned people out of the way’ while Mrs Louis clutched my jewel box to her chest. The clamour for me was so great in fact that I had to stand at my bedroom window with a candle held high so that the people could see me. I felt rather foolish, I must admit, but the crowd seemed delighted, jostling with each other to get a good view and applauding loudly whenever anyone called out my name.

I do sometimes wonder why they love me so much, given that my father rarely allows me on public view, but perhaps it is enough for them that I am not him. I will not forget their loyalty when I am Queen, I vow. I will do what I can to make their lives easier, and hope that they will cheer me for what I have done for them and not for who I am not.

At the top of the steps, I pause and turn. Over the heads of the crowd I can see the beach and beyond it the sea, heaving and swelling in the brisk wind. The air is bright and smells of salt and seaweed while above, the seagulls wheel with their raucous cries.

Oh, how good it is to be here and away from the stultifying tedium of Windsor! I feel better already. The last few months of imprisonment have worn me down. After my return to Carlton House that dreadful day, I was confined to my room for five days and kept an utter prisoner. Mrs Louis was, in the end, allowed to remain with me, but she was treated just as much as a prisoner. She had to sleep on the sofa in my room and by day she was always accompanied by two of the Regent’s own servants, one watching her and one guarding the door.

As for me, I am ‘attended’ by my new gaolers, Lady Ilchester and Lady Rosslyn, and Lady Rosslyn’s two nieces, the Misses Coates, Amelia and Wilhelmina, all of whom I heartily dislike. Lady Rosslyn is

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