‘He has not mentioned that he has.’

‘But he has been in the habit of giving Your Majesty details of his affairs, and if he had, it is to be presumed that he would compare Lady Deloraine with Madame de Walmoden and want to discuss the differences with Your Majesty.’

‘He has not mentioned her and I believe that he has been feeling too ill since his return. He goes about his ordinary business, but he suffers great pain although he does not show it.’

‘Except in his temper, Madam, which, though never of the best, has deteriorated since his return. How much is this due to his disability and how much to his loss of this woman we shall doubtless discover in due course. But I am not entirely pleased with Lady Deloraine. She is a fool, though I am ready to admit one of the prettiest women at Court, but fools can be used by clever men. His Majesty was at one time rather pleased with Lady Tankerville who has now gone to the country. It might be that we should get her out of the country and set her to play quadrille every night in the King’s company.’

‘He plays now with the Princesses.’

‘Madam, it is not possible that the King longs to pass his company in that of his own daughters when he has tasted the sweets of passing them with other people’s. It is better that the King should have a mistress chosen by us than by himself, and although Lady Tankerville is a fool, she is at least a safe fool.’

‘I will consider this,’ said the Queen.

‘I know that Your Majesty appreciates absolute candour,’ replied Walpole.

She did of course; but she found the interview embarrassing and it added nothing to her comfort.

When the King arrived at St James’s it was to find London almost empty.

‘For this,’ he cried to the Queen when he came to her apartments to see her before the levee, ‘I have been forced to come to London. I must celebrate my birthday. The people expect it. And then the people do me the honour of leaving London. The English are the most ill-mannered people in the world! ‘

Caroline sighed. If he continued to condemn the English in this way he was going to become even more unpopular than he already was.

‘You should be ready by now,’ he declared. ‘Your women are clumsy fools.’

Caroline saw Mrs Purcell, her hairdresser, wince. She would have to placate her in some way later. Why didn’t the King realize that people were noticing how much more ill-tempered he had become, how much more irascible since his return from Hanover; and they all knew the reason for it.

The next thing would be the spate of lampoons.

She wanted to explain to him; but when had one ever been about to explain to George?

His temper did not improve when his subjects assembled in his drawing room to pay their respects and he noticed that they were not wearing their best clothes. He had seen many of the coats before and as he never made a mistake about such details, he knew he was right.

An empty town! An ill-dressed company! A fine way to greet the King!

He asked the Duke of Grafton why he thought so many had come in their second best coats on such an occasion.

‘Your Majesty,’ answered Grafton, ‘we hope soon to be attending the marriage of the Prince of ‘Wales. Everyone is saving his best for that occasion.’

The King’s eyes narrowed. ‘I see,’ he said, ‘that the marriage of the Prince of Wales is of more importance than the King’s birthday.’

Grafton looked astonished, for believing himself more royal than George he had never hesitated to show his feelings. Naturally the wedding of the Prince of Wales would be the most important event since the coronation.

‘And I suppose,’ went on the King, ‘that you will be going to the country in a few days time?’

‘I have always gone to the country at this time of the year, sir. It is the best time for hunting.’

‘A pretty occupation for a man of your age to spend all his time tormenting a poor fox that is generally a better beast than those who pursue it.’

‘The farmers will tell you, sir, that the fox does great damage to the crops.’

‘The fox hurts no other animal and those brutes who hurt him do it only for the pleasure they take in hurting.’

‘I must tell Your Majesty that I hunt for my health.’

‘Why not walk or merely ride for your health? And if there is any pleasure in the hunt I’m sure you know nothing of it, for with your great bulk of twenty stone no horse I am sure can carry you within hearing, much less within sight, of your hounds. No. Sir Robert Walpole must leave London at this time to recuperate his health. And that I understand. His mind needs relaxation and his body exercise. And he has his private business. It is natural enough that he should take a month in the country to see to these matters.’ The King raised his voice and his face took on a deeper tinge of scarlet. ‘But why other puppies and fools have to run out of town to do their silly business now, when they have had all the summer to do it, I cannot imagine. I have come back ... against my inclination ... to find the Court empty and every young fool and every old fool running to the country. And I might have stayed in Hanover.’

It always came back to Hanover.

Life, thought Caroline, was becoming almost unbearable. The King’s continual irritation was hard to bear, more so now than it would have been earlier for she was more and more unable to ignore her illness.

There had been one or two occasions when she had almost fainted at a levee and it was only due to Charlotte Clayton and Lord Hervey that she had managed to hide this. Charlotte had now become Lady Sundon for her husband had been raised to the Irish peerage as Baron Sundon of Ardagh; and this fact had given Charlotte even more prestige in the Queen’s bedchamber.

Charlotte was very angry at the King’s behaviour and didn’t hesitate to say so.

‘It is bad enough,’ she said, ‘to have these wantons in England, but when they lure the King from his duties to his country and exert their influence from across the seas I don’t know what things are coming to!’

It distressed Charlotte to see the Queen so saddened, for in the privacy of the bedchamber the Queen could not always hide her sorrow.

Charlotte often felt that she could have slapped the little man for his lack of consideration; she would have liked to pack him off to Hanover where he could have vented his ill humour on That Woman. But of course he would have been all sweetness to her; for the very reason that he was so bad tempered was because he was separated from her.

‘Your Majesty should stay in bed for the rest of the day,’ Charlotte said one afternoon when the Queen was preparing to rise from the after dinner nap.

‘Impossible,’ said the Queen. ‘His Majesty will be coming in less than an hour to walk with me.’

‘Your Majesty is unfit.’

‘I am well.’

‘Not well enough, Madam. I know ...’

The Queen silenced her with a look. She knew. Yes, she knew! Oh, my God, why did she ever discover! thought Caroline. If this were known it would be the end. He would never return to her. It would be his excuse. And gradually he would slip away, for there was never a man more held by his emotions. The woman who shared his bed could share his confidence.

A curse on encroaching age, on female ailments, on all that could come to a woman.

How peaceful it had been when he was away in Hanover —and how dangerous it had proved!

Far from resting in bed she must rise earlier, for it took longer to dress.

Her feet were so swollen that they would not fit into her boots.

Lady Sundon was looking at them in dismay which turned to a sort of triumph. ‘Now Your Majesty will be forced to rest. I will send to the King and say that you are unwell.’