The Prince and the Quakeress: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online

dear Papa to care for us.’
    George read what his father had written:
    ‘As always I have had the tenderest paternal affection for you, and I cannot give you stronger proof of it than in leaving this paper in your mother’s hands, who will read it to you from time to time and will give it to you when you come of age or when you get the crown. I know you will always have the greatest respect for your mother… .’
    ‘I hope it too,’ said Augusta. He took her hand and kissed it.
    ‘You know it, Mamma.’
    ‘Bless you, my son.’ She glanced down at the paper with him. ‘Your father was always a man of peace,’ she said. ‘It was only when the need arose that he would take to arms. He was very different from his younger brother, the Butcher Cumberland.’
    ‘If you can be without war let not your ambition draw you into it. A good deal of the National Debt must be paid off before England enters into a war. At the same time never give up your honour nor that of the nation. A wise and brave Prince may oftentimes without armies put a stop to the confusion, which ambitious neighbours endeavour to create.’
    Reading these instructions George began to have a deep sense of responsibility. Before he had always believed that there was plenty of time for him to learn. He had never before seriously thought of being King of England. It was something for the very distant future. His father had been a comparatively young man with at least twenty years to live, and twenty years in the opinion of a thirteen-year-old boy was a lifetime. And now here he was with an ageing grandfather, given to choleric rages, who could die at any moment – the only barrier between young George and the throne. It was an alarming prospect.
    He must learn all he could as quickly as possible. He must study these papers. He read feverishly; he must balance the country’s finances; he must understand business; he must seek true friends who would not flatter him but tell him the truth. He must separate the thrones of Hanover and England and never attempt to sacrifice the latter for the former as both his grandfather and his great-grandfather had done. Uppermost in his mind must be the desire to convince Englishmen that he was an Englishman himself, born in England, bred in England, and an Englishman not only through these matters but by inclination. Never let the people of England believe for a moment that he saw himself as a German whose loyalties were first for Germany.
    Frederick finished his injunctions by recommending his mother to his care and also the rest of the family, his brothers and sisters.
    ‘I shall have no regret never to have worn the crown if you do but fill it worthily,’ he ended.
    George lifted eyes swimming with tears to his mother’s face.
    ‘But, Mamma, it is almost as though he knew he were going to die.’
    ‘Sometimes these revelations come to us,’ she answered. ‘You see how he loved you, how he loved us all. You will want to do all that he wished, I know.’
    ‘Yes, Mamma,’ answered George fervently.
    ‘He would have wanted me to guide you, my son, for he had more faith in me than in anyone.’
    ‘I know it, Mamma. I feel so young, so…so unworthy.’
    ‘Trust in me, my son. Rely on me and all will be well.’
    ‘It is what I want to do above all else.’
    She kissed him warmly; he was hers to mould; and he was the future King.
    *
    It was characteristic of the King that his resentment towards his son should not end with the latter’s death. In the presence of the window and children he allowed his sentimentality to get the better of him; but he was not going to change his attitude now.
    Frederick was a young puppy who ought to have remained in Hanover. He would have liked to see William, Duke of Cumberland, King of England, and if it had been possible to make him so, he would have done it. It was what dear dead Caroline would have wished. Perhaps it was not too late now. That boy George was a simpleton. Prince