Queen in Waiting: (Georgian Series) (22 page)

No, now was the time. Everything depended on the next few days.

And… how to find the money?

Henry shrugged and yawned; he could see no way.

He’s quite useless, she thought, putting on her cloak and going out into the streets.

It was a crazy idea. As soon as it occurred to her she refused to consider it. Rather anything than that.

Nevertheless, she paused before the window of a shop in one of the little streets; it was an expensive little shop and on a stand in the window was a solitary wig – a profusion of chestnut-coloured curls.

She stared at those curls and at the inscription over the shop window. ‘Wig makers to the Electors of Hanover.’

She turned away and walked a few paces, but she came back again to look at the wig.

Then determinedly she opened the door and stepped down two steps into the shop.

A man came forward clasping his hands together, recognizing a lady of quality.

‘Madam, I can be of assistance?’

‘You are the wig maker?’

‘Yes, Madam, at your service. Whatever you need we can provide.’

She took off her hood and shook out her hair which she had left unpinned.

He stared at it almost reverently.

‘It is good hair,’ she said. ‘Fine, yet abundant. Feel the texture.’

He put out a hand gingerly.

‘I suppose,’ she said, ‘that people come to you and offer to sell their hair. I am not the first one.’

He was silent. Girls came to him – serving girls, working girls, sometimes a mother who had a baby to provide for… but not ladies of quality.

‘I want to know,’ said Henrietta clearly in her English-German, ‘whether you would consider buying my hair and whether it would be worth my while to sell it.’

‘I would consider buying it… yes.’

‘Ah,’ she sighed. ‘You admit it is good hair and plenty of it.’

He nodded and named a sum. Her heart leaped. It was considerable, but she needed a considerable sum to entertain those who were going to open up the way for her.

‘Not enough,’ she said, and started to pull up her hood. But he was fascinated by that hair; he was terrified that she would go straight to the rival wig maker in the town who would make it into such a wig that everyone would be transferring their custom to him. He had never seen hair of such a rich colour, such a texture which, although fine, was not too fine; he had rarely seen such rippling waves.

He could afford a little gamble. Moreover she was a lady and
it was always well to be on the right side of the quality.

He put up his price but she seemed to hesitate.

He said: ‘I would take it from the level of the chin and I don’t think we should argue about a thaler this way or that.’

Henrietta hesitated once more; it was a great effort not to run from the shop; she felt that her entire future was being decided in this moment.

‘Very well,’ she said, and seated herself in the chair he offered.

In a few moments, her shining hair lay on a table and she herself looked like a handsome boy – her hair clustering thickly about her neck like that of a page boy. It was not unbecoming, she comforted herself as the wig maker was counting out the thalers.

She hurried back to her lodgings; there to begin preparations for the dinner party which was going to change her life.

The Electress Sophia was delighted to meet Henry and Henrietta Howard. Certain friends of hers had dined with the couple in their lodgings in the town and had found them charming. They had just arrived from England and knowing how interesting the Electress found such people it was wondered whether she would graciously grant them an interview.

‘I am always delighted to meet anyone from England,’ was the expected reply.

Sophia made Henrietta sit beside her and talk about England. Had Henrietta met the Queen? Yes, said Henrietta, for she had seen Anne from a distance and how could Sophia ever know that they had never exchanged a word?

‘Tell me about her.’

‘I fear, Your Highness, that she is not long for this world. There are occasions when she has to be carried in her chair throughout the palace. The gout and dropsy will surely kill her soon for Her Majesty is a martyr to them.’

‘It grieves me to hear it,’ lied Sophia.

Henrietta had chosen the right subject when she enlarged on the infirmities of the Queen; as she listened Sophia saw herself arriving in state, being crowned Queen of England.

I should die happy, she thought, if I could die Queen of England.

How ironical that this great hope of a lifetime should come to her when she was so old she must surely herself be only a step or two from the grave. But not until I have been crowned Queen of England, she told herself firmly.

And what entertaining tales Henrietta had to tell of court life in England! Sophia had heard most of it before but she never tired of hearing it again. Sarah Churchill, the virago, had been dismissed. Imagine it. The great Duke’s wife. And he was in disgrace too. Mousy little Abigail Hill queened it over the Queen. She was a wise one; she did not stamp and storm like Sarah. She had won the day with soothing hands that knew how to poultice aching limbs; she had never demanded that this man be given office, that man be put down. But she had had her way all the same. It was said that Robert Harley, Lord Oxford, who was her cousin and the Queen’s chief adviser, owed his position to her, and that she was responsible for the downfall of the Marlboroughs.

‘Fascinating! Fascinating!’ murmured Sophia. ‘Now tell me about the people of England.’

‘They like to be amused. They like sport and laughter and hate to be serious. Your Highness would be interested in some of the lampoons that are written about events. The coffee houses are full of scribblers like Swift and Steele, and men such as Harley use them to write their lampoons and hold up to ridicule that which they wish to destroy.’

‘How I should love to be there!’

‘Your Highness will soon be there. The poor Queen suffers so with her gout and dropsy. Her life is despaired of at least once a month.’

‘And tell me how much support is there for the King across the water?’

‘Only that of the Catholics, Your Highness. Most of the people of England swear they will never have a Catholic on the throne; it was for that reason that James II was sent into exile.’

‘Then they are happily looking to us in Hanover?’

‘Most happily, Your Highness.’

Sophia was enjoying the company of this young woman from England who seemed to have such a grasp of affairs.

‘You must come and see me again,’ she said. ‘Soon.’

Henrietta replied promptly that she would present herself next
day and every day until the Electress had time to see her.

She went away well pleased. She had achieved her purpose. It was easier than she had hoped. As for her hair, it would grow again, and the approving eyes of several men and the envying ones of women had assured her that short as it was, it was still admired; and in its unusual fashion attracted as much attention as when it had been coiled heavily about her head.

The Electress came into the nursery to see her great-grandchildren. Fritzchen, her favourite, scrambled up on her knee and asked if she had brought him any cake or sweetmeat.

‘You’re a greedy boy, Fritzchen,’ she told him indulgently. ‘And where are your sisters?’

There were two of them now, for two years after the birth of Anne, little Amelia had appeared.

Anne, independent and self-important, had been known to exchange blows with Fritzchen; Amelia, a sturdy two-year-old, adored him. Fritzchen liked being adored and was very kind to his younger sister, thus winning more adoration.

I hope, thought Sophia, he is not going to take after his father.

Hearing that the Electress was in the nursery, Caroline came to see her and talk about the children.

‘My dear Caroline,’ said Sophia affectionately. ‘You are looking very well.’

She studied Caroline’s figure; she certainly looked pregnant and by ordinary standards would soon be giving birth; but Caroline’s pregnancies always seemed to last so long. It had certainly been so with the two elder children. What a satisfactory wife and mother she was, and how bored she must be with George Augustus; yet she never showed it. Clever Caroline. At least, thought Sophia, I had a clever man, even though he preferred his mistresses to me all through our married life. It wasn’t quite so with George Augustus. Somehow he appeared to be in love with his wife even while he was unfaithful to her; and he had never set up a mistress to equal Clara von Platen who had had such influence with Ernest Augustus.

Yes, Caroline was a clever woman and she was glad George Augustus had had the good fortune to have her for his wife.

‘I hope for a boy this time,’ said Caroline.

‘Well, you’ve a whole lifetime before you. We’re good breeders. Not like poor Queen Anne… fortunately.’ Sophia could be frank with Caroline who was so sensible and was already sharing Sophia’s ambitions, for after all if Sophia was Queen of England it was certain that Caroline would be also one day.

Sophia was off on her favourite topic. ‘Imagine all those pregnancies… all those miscarriages! Seventeen, so I’ve heard. Poor soul! And then when she did rear one boy, to lose him just when she thought at last she had given the nation its heir.’

Sophia could not hide the satisfied smile.

‘It means everything in the world to you,’ said Caroline.

‘I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I shall only die content if I die Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.’

‘It seems certain that you will.’

‘I’ve heard disturbing rumours. Anne is unpredictable. She’s so sentimental and suffers from her conscience, I was told. She thinks that if she puts her half-brother on the throne her sins will be forgiven.’

‘He’s a Catholic. The English will never have him.’

‘There will be some who are ready to call him James III.’

‘Only the Catholics. And the English have already clearly shown that they’ll have none of them. What would have been the point in turning James II from the throne if they were going to put his son there?’

‘Perhaps it wasn’t so much the people who made him into an exile as William of Orange. I remember him. He was half Stuart but you would never have known it. He had none of the grace nor the charm. I wish you could have known my mother. She was Stuart… all Stuart. Orange was a man who knew what he wanted and wouldn’t rest until he’d got it. He wanted the three crowns – England, Scotland and Ireland.’

‘And he won them. But the English would not have accepted him if they hadn’t wanted him. They’ll never have a Catholic. I think you will be Queen of England soon.’

Young Fritzchen was listening intently, but Caroline knew he did not understand what they were saying. He liked to watch their lips moving. The little girls took their cue from Fritzchen and were silent too.

‘Have you been telling Great Grandmamma how you enjoyed the sugar cake she sent you, Fritzchen?’ asked his mother.

Fritzchen nodded happily and hopefully.

‘If you are good and learn your lessons you may have some more,’ Sophia promised him. Then she turned to Caroline. ‘There is an interesting woman from England whom I want you to meet. Henrietta Howard. You’ll know that the Norfolk Howards are one of England’s premier families. She’s married a third son and is a charming creature – pretty and intelligent. Come to my apartments and meet her. I thought you might have a place for her in your household.’

Caroline promised; and that was how Henrietta achieved her goal; she had not expected to get so far in such a short time. It was a great honour to become one of the
dames du palais
in the household of Princess Caroline.

Caroline liked Henrietta Howard and as a result Henrietta was often in attendance. An excellent conversationalist, she was able to hide a certain lack of knowledge and could talk with apparent ease on many subjects. She was even at ease in the company of Leibniz who was writing a history of the Princes of Brunswick which had been commissioned by the Elector.

Henrietta had good reason to believe that she had shown great foresight in selling her hair.

To the Princess Caroline’s apartments came George Augustus, the devoted husband, always interested in his wife’s affairs. Henrietta noticed immediately how the Princess made certain that proper deference was paid to him and she realized that if she were to retain her place with the Princess, she must not displease the Prince. With that skill at which she was an expert, she conveyed her awe of the little man in such a way that he was immediately aware of it. He was delighted that this charming English woman should notice him.

At this time the biggest court scandal was that created by the Countess von Platen and a young Englishman named James Craggs, and because of the antagonism between the courts of the Elector and his son it was discussed with gleeful malice in the presence of George Augustus.

Since the Countess, the youngest and most beautiful of his
father’s three mistresses, was deceiving him, this was considered highly amusing; and as the young man concerned was newly arrived from England, Henrietta was able to tell a story about him which had not been heard before.

Thus she entertained the company.

‘He’s a Whig,’ she explained, ‘and he’s ambitious like his father. He has come to Hanover because he knows the Queen cannot last for ever and he wants to find favour here.’

‘So he thinks to find favour with my father by seducing his mistress!’ cried George Augustus.

‘Why, Your Highness, I do not believe he seduced her; it was she who seduced him.’

This was the sort of remark which seemed witty and highly entertaining to George Augustus. He looked afresh at the handsome young woman. She was so different from the Hanover beauties who all somehow contrived to look the same. It was the fashion at the moment to dye the hair black; so everywhere one looked one saw black hair; scarlet cheeks were considered fashionable with the new black hair, so everyone had scarlet cheeks. But Henrietta was different. Her thick lustrous hair fell to her shoulders in a fashion all her own. If others tried to copy it they could not do so for they lacked Henrietta’s shining locks, which were the colour of honey and glistened so delightfully in the sunlight. George Augustus was charmed by her appearance.