But he was determined to enjoy life in England. He was after all Prince of Wales; there would be many to remember that and it was certain to be more exciting here than it had been in Hanover.

The King came into the apartment. Frederick was looking at what could well be himself in twenty or thirty years time.

The blue eyes were less clear, the complexion more ruddy, but there was the Hanoverian jaw, the Hanoverian eyes.

The King noticed that his son was of his own height and was gratified; he disliked men to be taller than he was and he was continually being annoyed to find they were.

Apart from that he was irritated. He did not want his son here—sons meant trouble. He seemed eager to please though. All the more reason to be watchful, he warned himself.

‘So you’ve come home,’ he said gruffly.

‘Yes, Your Majesty.’

‘We had to stop that Berlin nonsense.’

The Prince flushed. ‘I felt I was of a marriageable age, sir.’

The King turned away and said to the Queen: ‘So he’s come home then.’

The Queen smiled as though he had said something very wise.

‘As Your Majesty says, the people vill be interested to see him.’

‘And I to see them ... and this country. I have often thought of it.’

‘You speak good English,’ said the Queen.

The King scowled. Although he was unaware how bad his own accent was he knew that the Prince’s was superior.

‘Not like a German at all,’ went on the Queen with a smile.

‘It is not a bad thing to be a German,’ said the King. ‘It is a good thing,’ answered the Queen quickly.

‘It is von very good thing.’

The Prince was bewildered, reading something beneath the surface of the conversation. It seemed as though the Queen were very much in awe of his father, which was contrary to the reports he had heard. He had expected to find her in command. Perhaps the rumours which had come to Hanover were not true. His mother seemed afraid of his father; and his father was a testy little man who was not going to pretend he was glad to see his firstborn.

A strange homecoming!

Frederick was glad when the rest of the family arrived in his mother’s apartments to meet him.

It was rather exciting suddenly to find oneself a member of a large family,

They were presented to him in order of age. Anne first, haughty, not very attractive, being short like her father and plump like her mother. She looked with disdain at this new brother when she was presented as though she would have preferred him to stay in Hanover.

‘I remember you well,’ he told her pleasantly.

‘I don’t remember you.’

‘You were after all two years younger.’

She resented that; if he had not been born, if she had had no brothers, she would have been the heir to the throne. A second Queen Anne! She could never forget it; it rankled and festered because what she longed to be more than anything was a queen. And this young man—as well as spoilt William—stood in her way.

‘Well, you’re here now. I was in the middle of a singing lesson when I was summoned.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Mr Handel is my professor. I believe him to be possessed of genius.’

‘That must be very pleasant.’

She looked at him scornfully, but Amelia was now waiting to be presented.

Amelia was decidedly prettier than Anne and more pleasant. She whispered to her brother that she had been very interested in his plans to marry their cousin, particularly as, he knew, she might well be betrothed to Wilhelmina’s brother. Poor Amelia! he thought. How would she fare at the Court of Prussia? Would the madman of a king dare to treat her as he treated poor Wilhelmina and Fritz?

‘I should not care too much that the marriage is delayed,’ he told her. ‘One day I will have a great deal to tell you of the Court of Berlin.’

Then there was Caroline—delicate and gentle, eager to make up by her welcome for the lack of warmth in that of the others. He thought Caroline might be his favourite sister.

The other little girls were too young to impress him much; but they seemed pretty little creatures. His only brother, William, Duke of Cumberland, took an immediate dislike to him, and he to William.

‘So you’re our German brother,’ said the arrogant boy.

‘I’m as English as you are,’ Frederick reminded him.

‘What! You have lived all your life in Germany. I have never been there.’

‘It is an omission you will probably rectify when you are old enough.’

Frederick turned away from the boy and spoke to Caroline.

He was thinking what a strange homecoming this was. This gentle girl seemed the only member of the family who was glad he had come.

The King and Queen decided that the Prince of Wales should slip quietly into his place at Court. There should be no fanfares of welcome, no fêtes to celebrate his arrival.

George somewhat grudgingly admitted him to the Privy Council where he was formally created Prince of Wales. It disturbed him to see that his son was an immediate success. His youth, his good manners, and his ability to speak the language with scarcely a trace of German accent was applauded. It was his own family who behaved ungraciously to him.

The two chief offenders were Anne and William. Anne was his enemy from the first largely because she resented his sex and his being her senior. The older she grew the more fearful she was of not finding a suitable husband and nothing less than a prince would satisfy her; if she could become a queen she would be slightly reconciled to being excluded from the Crown of England. Therefore the return of this elder brother was particularly galling to her. William sulkily showed his resentment. He had been treated as the only son; all the privileges which came to the male of the family had been his; and now to have a brother thrust upon him and an elder brother, was insupportable. He made no effort to hide his resentment.

It flared up on the first occasion the whole family went to church and William, according to his custom since he had been able to walk, prepared to lead his mother to her place.

‘My dear William,’ she whispered, ‘this will be your brother’s duty now.’

William’s face was purple with rage.

‘Why should it be?’ he demanded. ‘He’s a German. I am an English. I won’t stand aside for this German.’

‘You will stand aside for the Prince of Wales,’ his mother told him.

So Frederick led her to her place and his young brother William hated him fiercely and wished he had stayed in Hanover.

Anne, watching the incident, shared her young brother’s hatred.

It’s not fair, she thought. He’s weak. That’s obvious. He’ll be lead anywhere. And he is the Prince of Wales whereas I, because I’m a year or so younger, and a woman, can never be Queen of England because of him! I’ll have to go away from home to marry some prince.

She shivered; not at the fear of leaving home, but that a prince might not be found for her.

Frederick did not brood on his lukewarm reception. He found his new country exceedingly exciting. It was entirely different from Hanover. The streets were full of gaiety, noise, and colour; he liked to ride through them for sometimes he would be recognized and a shout would go up of ‘Long Live the Prince of Wales’.

These garrulous inquisitive people had already sensed the royal family’s resentment towards the eldest son and immediately ranged themselves on the Prince’s side. Ever since the old King had died, and before that, they had been asking why the Prince was not in England; now they were delighted to see him; he was a pleasant-looking, pleasant-mannered young man, fresh-skinned and charmingly affable, speaking their language with scarcely any trace of a German accent.