Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/157

 Caroline 25,000l. per annum was to be set aside to pay his debts, which at that time amounted to 630,000l. Besides this he was to receive 27,000l. for preparations for the marriage, 28,000l. for jewels and plate, 26,000l. for the completion of Carlton House, and 50,000l. per annum as a jointure to her royal highness, of which, however, she would only accept 35,000l.

She left Brunswick on 30 Dec. 1794, but on her way was met by a messenger from Lord St. Helen's, telling her that the squadron sent to escort her had been obliged to return to England. For a few weeks she stayed at Hanover until her embarkation, which took place at Cuxhaven on 28 March 1795. She arrived at Greenwich about noon on 5 April, where she dressed, and then drove to St. James's, accompanied by Lady Jersey, who had been sent to meet her. Lady Jersey naturally became her most implacable enemy, and probably did more than any one else to estrange the prince from his consort. The marriage took place at 8 p.m. on 8 April in the Chapel Royal, St. James's. The prince's relations with Mrs. Fitzherbert and Lady Jersey—especially the latter—soon led to quarrels, and an appeal was made to the king to act as arbiter between them. Their matrimonial relations continued in this state until the birth of the Princess Charlotte Augusta [q. v.], on 7 Jan. 1796, when the prince deliberately forsook his wife. A formal separation between them was agreed on three months later, and it was only through the kind offices of the king that the princess was to have free access to her child during the first eight years of its life.

She left Carlton House and went to reside in strict privacy at an unpretentious residence, Shrewsbury House, near Shooter's Hill. In 1801 she removed to Montague House, Blackheath, where she entertained her friends, among whom were Sir John and Lady Douglas, Sir Sidney Smith, Captain Manby, &c. Hitherto there had been nothing against her moral character. But becoming very intimate with Lady Douglas, she foolishly talked some nonsense as to her being about to give birth to a child, which she intended to account for by saying she had adopted it. She already had several young protégés, and one named William Austin was singled out as being her own son. This rumour was spread by Lady Douglas, and in 1806 the king granted a commission, consisting of Lords Erskine, Grenville, Spencer, and Ellenborough, to investigate the matter. This was called 'the delicate investigation,' and at the conclusion of their labours they unhesitatingly repudiated the charge made against the princess, although they censured her levity of manners on several occasions. For this also the king gently rebuked her, but he allotted her apartments in Kensington Palace, and often passed a whole day at Blackheath with her and his grandchild, the Princess Charlotte, a proceeding which certainly tended to widen the breach between him and the Prince of Wales. Still, although on friendly relations with the king, she never recovered her former footing at court, and when, after the death of the Princess Amelia in 1810, the king's health gave way, the intercourse between her and her daughter was much restricted. Her position suffered still more when, in 1811, the Prince of Wales was proclaimed regent, an accession of rank which brought to her no corresponding dignity.

Princess Caroline felt deeply the separation from her child. On 4 Oct. 1812 she went to Windsor with the intention of paying her daughter a visit, but was not permitted to see her, whereon she demanded an audience of the queen, which was immediately granted, but no satisfaction could be obtained. Her indignation knew no bounds, and she wrote a long and most impassioned letter of remonstrance to the regent on 12 Jan. 1813. This letter was laid before the privy council, and in their report they 'were of opinion that, under all the circumstances of the case, it is highly fit and proper, with a view to the welfare of her royal highness the Princess Charlotte, in which are equally involved the happiness of your royal highness in your parental and royal character, and the most important interests of the state, that the intercourse between her royal highness the Princess of Wales and her royal highness the Princess Charlotte should continue to be subject to regulation and restraint.' The princess then addressed a letter to the speaker of the House of Commons on the subject, which was read to the house, and a debate was raised, but the sense of the house was that the regent was the sole judge of the conduct to be observed in the education of his daughter. On 8 March the princess received an intimation that her restricted visits to her daughter were to be discontinued, but by accident the mother and child met when out driving, and had some ten minutes' conversation; and on the death of the Duchess of Brunswick (who was living in England) on 23 March 1813, the regent permitted his daughter to visit her mother, and they passed two hours together. When, on 12 July, the Prince of Wales visited his daughter, and informed her that he was going to dismiss all her household, and that she must take up her residence at Carlton House, she fled at once