HMS Queen Charlotte

“ Stiff and straight in her low-cut corsage, a true German in matters of etiquette, which she imposes with pitiless rigor upon all about her, little Queen Charlotte amply compensates for the free and easy habits of her husband by the severity of her mien. With head erect, though slightly thrown backward, squinting eyes, and pointed chin, swaying her fan to and fro with a rapid, uncompromising movement, there is no doubt that the worthy dwarf, who has already given the king thirteen princes and princesses, is still a most energetic little person. ”

“ Change my dress, and then—and then——” and she turns her laughing eyes on the alarmed face of Charlotte, “under the shady woods, by the parterre near the grotto, I shall meet him—and, alone.”
“And what on earth am I to say to the Queen if she asks for your highness?” replies Charlotte, turning away her face that the Princess might not see the tears that bedew her cheeks.
“Anything, my good Charlotte; you have a ready wit, or my mother would not favour you. I trust to your invention, it has been often exercised,” and she looked archly at her. ”

“ I went to Lady Ashbrook’s in the evening, and received a letter from Princess Charlotte, which gave me sad accounts of the unkind manner in which she is treated, not being spoken to by her father, nor ever seeing him but when the Queen is in town. The Duchess d’Orleans and Mademoiselle had visited her, and she was to be allowed next day to return the visit, but to have no further communication. She is not allowed to go out in an open carriage, and a coach makes her always sick. This, however, is the only carriage allowed her, as she must have two ladies and a gentleman with her. ”

“ As soon as I had been seen by the Queen, for I was not spoken to, I returned to her Royal Highness, who in the mean while was left with the Duchess of Leeds, and she took her turn of going into the drawing-room. Princess Charlotte was greatly hurt by being thus treated as a child, but made no complaints, and was good natured with her family.
She met them that day at dinner at the Duke of Cambridge’s, and I was asked for the evening party there. His house, [129] though not very large, is handsome and comfortable. ”

“ The Regent came one morning with the Bishop of Salisbury: seemed greatly out of humour, and wished Princess Charlotte to relinquish, as a mark of civility to the House of Orange, the insertion of the article. This she respectfully declined. The Queen bought her wedding clothes, and told her she need have only one court dress, as hoop petticoats were not worn in Holland. ”

“ The good old Charlotte was a very acceptable improvement in the navigation of the Bay. A few of the owners of sailing crafts, perhaps, suffered for a time; but the settlers regarded her as an unmixed blessing. During the first years she was so accommodating as to stop any where to pick up a passenger from a small boat, or let one off.
The old inhabitants of to-day speak of her with words of kindness. But the Queen Charlotte has passed away. The last remembered of her was her hull rotting away in the Cataraqui Bay above the bridge. ”

“ I'll take you near enough to singe your black whiskers.' He did almost literally fulfil this promise, passing so close under the stern of the Montagne, that the French ensign brushed the main and mizen shrouds of the Queen Charlotte as she poured her broadside into the French ship's starboard quarter. ”

“ Queen Charlotte was advised by her mother, before she ever touched the shores of England, to make entire and religious abstinence from politics the rule of her life as a British Princess; and for twenty-eight years, till the question of the first Regency forced Queen Charlotte upon the stage as a reluctant actress, she had satisfied herself with being a modest spectatress, living in strict observance of maternal counsel ”

“ My letter to the Queen went at five, and at half-past six I took my refusal to the Duchess, who expressed the greatest concern, and said all in her power to persuade me to accept the situation, not having entertained the smallest suspicion of any difficulty remaining. I left her, and at the bottom of the stairs found the page, who desired I would walk into the library, where I found Princess Charlotte. ”

“ At all events, he desired I would not be uneasy, and that although the Queen might be angry with me herself, he was sure she would be much more angry 240with any one who should speak against me. He was in high good humour, but in the midst of it, tapping me on the shoulder, said, “Remember, however, my dear Chevalier, that Charlotte must lay aside the idle nonsense of thinking that she has a will of her own; while I live she must be subject to me as she is at present, if she were thirty, or forty, or five-and-forty.” ”

“ Sir Henry Halford, however, who was the person always employed at that time, settled the business of putting off the dinner party, by coming to say from the Queen, that as the Princess Charlotte was not well enough to go back to Windsor, she could not be well enough to see company at dinner, and the Duchess of York prudently declined it. The Prince Regent was supposed not to know anything of this affair, and perhaps really did not. I feel almost ashamed of spending ink and paper on such trifles, but they show the style of treatment adopted towards the future Queen of England. ”

“ Princess Charlotte is still a very charming woman, and was in her younger days a singularly attractive girl, one of the fairest indeed of all Queen Victoria's numerous descendants, but her sisters are inclined to be homely, absolutely deficient in feminine elegance or chic, and, while accomplished, are extremely dull, and not a bit sparkling or witty. ”

“ She (the Princess Charlotte) told her mother that there had been a great battle at Windsor between the Queen and the Prince; the former refusing to give up Miss Knight from her own person to attend on Princess Charlotte as sub-governess; but the Prince Regent had gone to Windsor himself, and insisted on her doing so, and the ‘old begum’ was forced to submit, but has been ill ever since, and Sir Henry Halford declared it was a complete breaking up of the constitution (to the great delight of the two Princesses who were talking about the affair) . ”

“ There she remained during a period of about seven years, at the end of which, having been included in some new arrangements which were being made for the household of the Princess Charlotte, then growing into womanhood, she left the Court of the Queen (who never forgave her for the desertion) and settled at Warwick House, which was then the domicile of the young Princess, adjoining the residence of her father. ”

“ At 2-40, clewed up our sails, following the motions of the commander-in-chief, who, at 2-45, anchored abreast of the Mole, and within half pistol-shot. At 2-47, Leander anchored in her station, close a-head of the Queen Charlotte, in five fathoms water, when the enemy opened a most tremendous fire, which was instantly returned by the broadsides of the Queen Charlotte and Leander, the fleet anchoring in the stations assigned them, and opening a vigorous fire. ”

“ On the young ladies, gently and wisely reared in this little court, Queen Charlotte had begun to look with the foresight of a mother who had elderly and wayward sons to marry. When the death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales threatened to interrupt the direct succession of the crown, the unmatched brothers of the Regent thought of taking unto themselves wives. Cumberland had married according to his, but to no other person's, liking, hardly even that of his wife. The Dukes of Kent and Cambridge made better choice; and there then remained but the sailor-prince to be converted into a Benedict. ”

“ Seen near, it was a chaos—hollow, half-consumed—an orb perished or perishing—half lava, half glow.
I had heard this woman termed "plain", and I expected bony harshness and grimness—something large, angular, sallow. What I saw was the shadow of a royal Vashti; a queen fair as the day once, turned pale now like twilight, and wasted like wax in flame. ”

“ While walking out of the room, the princess appeared in deep thought, and more tranquil; her majesty, imagining it to be the result of her own advice, said, "The Princess Charlotte will never want a friend if she abide by her grandmother's instructions, and properly maintain her dignity of birth." Her royal highness returned to her former situation before the queen, and exclaimed, "What does your majesty mean?" "I mean," replied the queen, "that you must not condescend to favour persons in low life with your confidence or particular respect ”

“ The frigates were now for safety recalled, and the main body continued in the order of sailing, except the Bellerophon, Leviathan, Marlborough, Audacious, Russell, and Thunderer, which were a considerable distance in advance to windward, and were coming fast up with the enemy’s rear. The ever-exciting signal of the whole fleet to chase and prepare for action was now thrown out from the Queen Charlotte. Every sail the ships could carry was immediately set, and away the whole fleet plunged through the rolling, tumbling sea in chase of the flying enemy. ”

“ She felt very timid the first day she entered upon her office, but Queen Charlotte was exceedingly gracious, and soon placed the new maid at her ease by treating her less like a servant than a friend. Nevertheless, she was glad to escape from the royal presence to dine with the ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting. The meals served for these court attendants were much more enjoyable than those at which their majesties presided, because there was less formality and ceremony. ”

“ Her father died in 1604, and Charlotte spent most of her early days at Thouars, occasionally paying visits to her relatives at The Hague. Her mother came to England in 1625 in the train of Charles I's queen, Henrietta Maria, and during her visit arranged a marriage between Charlotte and James Stanley, lord Strange (afterwards seventh Earl of Derby) [q. v.] Charlotte was then staying at The Hague with Elizabeth, the daughter of James I and fugitive queen of Bohemia, whose husband, Frederick V, was Charlotte's cousin. ”

“ January 10th.—Princess Charlotte summoned to Cranbourne Lodge to accompany the Queen to Brighton, where her birthday was to be kept, and it was and still is expected that she is to marry the Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg at her own request. She went to Brighton with the Queen on the 6th. Nothing extraordinary seems to have been done for her birthday, [59] though it completes her twentieth year. Many people of rank were invited to meet the Queen when she was there at Christmas, but not so now. ”

“ In order to show all due honour to the fleet which had achieved such a victory, on Thursday, June 26th, George III. and Queen Charlotte and three of the princesses arrived at Portsmouth; the three younger princesses having come down the day before. The royal party then proceeding in barges in the usual procession, and receiving the customary honours, visited Lord Howe's ship at Spithead. ”

“ Officers and men felt they were going to an assured victory, and that to obtain complete success the plans of their chief required only the exertions which every one resolved to make. As a consequence of this enthusiasm, which never had a check, for the excitement of preparation was followed by the flush of victory, their health and vigour were beyond all parallel. Scarcely a man came on the sick-list; and when the Queen Charlotte was paid off on her return, only one had died, except from the casualties of battle, out of nearly a thousand who had joined her more than three months before. ”

“ Steered by the master of the fleet, Mr. Gaze, who had sailed with Lord Exmouth in every ship he commanded from the beginning of the war, the Queen Charlotte proceeded silently to her position. At half-past two, she anchored by the stern, just half a cable's length from the Mole-head, and was lashed by a hawser to the mainmast of an Algerine brig, which lay at the entrance of the harbour. Her starboard broadside flanked all the batteries from the Mole-head to the Light-house. The Mole was crowded with troops, many of whom got upon the parapet to look at the ship ”

“ We clear for action there, and leave all our chests, bulkheads, and everything we have except guns, powder, shot, &c. &c. of which we have not a little.
'I have the honour to command one of H.M.S. Queen Charlotte's boats on service, and if there is any work, expect to cut no small caper. I have seen the plan of attack; all our fire is to be on the mole head. Us, the Leander, Superb and Impregnable are to be lashed together and as near the walls as possible. Minden engages a battery called the Emperor's Fort, and Albion stands off and on to relieve any damaged ship. ”

“ The enemy’s line having been forced through in several places, they began to give way; their Admiral, Villaret Joyeuse, in the Montagne, of 120 guns, on board of which ship was the Conventional Deputy Jean Bon Saint André, vigorously attacked by the Queen Charlotte, bore up in great confusion, and was followed by all those of his ships which were able to carry sail, leaving the rest which were crippled, at the mercy of their enemies. ”

“ I dined at Lady Downshire’s.
22nd.—I called on the Misses [ ] . Mr. D. said he had just seen Lord Liverpool, and that he and Lord Castlereagh were to accompany the Prince of Saxe-Coburg to Brighton to-morrow. Afterwards called on Mrs. R. Keate and Lady Neave. Mr. Lyttleton had been there, and said the Princess Charlotte would not marry the Prince of Saxe-Coburg, as he would take her to Hanover.
26th.—Princess Charlotte goes with the Queen to-day to Brighton. At Windsor they consider the marriage as certain.
28th.—I received a very kind letter from Princess Charlotte, dated Saturday, 24th. ”