A sleepless night (no reason: the hotel is lovely) makes for more Hervey, volume 2. To explain some of tihe following passages I have to point out Hervey, whenever he shows up in his own tale as an acting character, writes of himself in the third person, i.e. "Lord Hervey did this" or "then Lord Hervey said to the Queen", etc. A la Caesar in the Gallic Wars. Confusingly, though, he also writes in the first person - i.e. "I heard this from Sir Robert directly" or "I was present when the King said this" etc. I'm not sure whether he wanted his readers to believe a third party - an unnamed historian - was writing these memoirs; after all, he knew they wouldn't and couldn't be published within his own life time, and probably not for some time hereafter. Or maybe it was just a stylistic device, understood by readers of the time; I'm not sure, since none of the other 18th Century memoirs I've read so far employ it. (Certainly not Voltaire's. *g*)
Okay, onwards: G2 keeps irritating his English subjects with visiting Hannover, remember. On one such visit, his English mistress, Lady Sussex, gets married again despite being in her 40s. G2 hears about it from Caroline via letter, drags out his time in Hannover, and comes back with a German (!) mistress, Madame Waldmoden, the ultimate insult. This causes Lord Hervey to muse thusly:
Whilst the late King lived, everybody imagined this Prince loved England and hated Germany ; but from the time of his first journey, after he was King, to Hanover, people began to find, if they had not been deceived in their former opinion, at least they would be so in their xpectations; and that his thoughts, whatever they might have been, were no longer turned either with contempt or dislike to his Electoral dominions. But after this last journey Hanover had so completed the conquest of his affections, that there was nothing English ever commended in his presence that he did not always show, or pretend to show, was surpassed by something of the same kind in Germany. No English or even French cook could dress a dinner; no English confectioner set out a dessert ; no English player could act ; no English coachman could drive, or English jockey ride; nor were any English horses fit to be drove or fit to be ridden; no Englishman knew how to come into a room, nor any Englishwoman how to dress herself; nor were there any diversions in England, public or private ; nor any man or woman in England whose conversation was to be borne—the one, as he said, talking of nothing but their dull politics, and the others of nothing but their ugly clothes. Whereas at Hanover all these things were in the utmost perfection: the men were patterns of politeness, bravery, and gallantry; the women of beauty, wit, and entertainment; his troops there were the bravest in the world, his counsellors the wisest, his manufacturers the most ingenious, his subjects the happiest; and at Hanover, in short, plenty reigned, magnificence resided, arts flourished, diversions abounded, riches flowed, and everything was in the utmost perfection that contributes to make a prince great or a people blessed. (...)
In truth he hated the English, looked upon them all as king-killers and republicans, grudged them their riches as well as their liberty, thought them all overpaid, and said to Lady Sundon one day as she was waiting at dinner, just after he returned from Germany, that he was forced to distribute his favours here verydifferently from the manner in which he bestowed them at Hanover ; /that there he rewarded people for doing their duty and serving him well, but that here he was obliged to enrich people for being rascals, and buy them not to cut his throat.
The Queen did not always think in a different style of the English, though she kept her thoughts more to herself than the King, as being more prudent, more sensible, and more mistress of her passions ; yet even she could not entirely disguise these sentiments to the observation of those who were perpetually about her, and put her upon subjects that betrayed her into revealing them.
Hervey was a satirist, so I'm taking this a pinch of salt and the awareness that G2 believing some things were better in Hannover would already been taken as Britain bashing by most Brits, given their idea of England as the climax of civilisation. This said, I still find it amusing, and Mildred, if you do get around to writing Fritz in G2's presence, imagine how the Hannover and Germany praise goes down then. :)
Caroline, btw, never goes with G2 to Hannover; she stays because he always makes her regent in his absence. (Never Fritz of Wales.) Which she thoroughly enjoys. Hervey, ever ready to share scandal, can't report one more about Madame W. other than that he can't understand what G2 sees in her, so he turns towards another German lady in G2's entourage and claims one of "Aunt" Melusine's sisters has also been getting it on with not one, but two Georges and Fritz of Wales:
This Madame d'Elitz was a Schulemberg, sister to my Lady Chesterfield—a very handsome lady, though now a little in her decline, with a reat deal of wit, who had had a thousand lovers, and had been catched in bed with a man twenty years ago, and been divorced from her husband upon it. She was said to have been mistress to three generations of the Hanover family — the late King, the present, and the Prince of Wales before he came to England, which was one generation more than the Duchess of Valentinois " (mistress to Henry II.) could boast of in France. The present King had quitted Madame d'Elitz for Madame Walmoden, upon which a quarrel ensued between the two ladies, and the King thereupon had turned Madame d'Elitz out of the palace the year before; just therefore when the King set out for Hanover this year, Madame d'Elitz set out for England, where she now was with her aunt and sister, the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Chesterfield.
Note from our Victorian editor Croker: Hervey is wrong about Diane de Poitiers having slept with Francis I. of France as well as his son Henry II (the one married to Catherine de' Medici), that was slander, and he's probably slandering the third Schulenburg sister as well. He could be right. Anyway, how come we haven't heard of her before? ETA: Also: didn't Lord Chesterfield help Peter Keith leave Amsterdam hidden as part of his entourage? If Chesterfield was married to a Schulenburg sister, that means he's distantly related to the Kattes, thus also justifying imaginary descendant's name of Philip Stanhope in "Zeithain". Anyway: I propose someone should filk "The Schuyler Sisters" to "The Schulenburg Sisters" /ETA
Speaking of mistresses: G2 makes it known Fritz of Wales should finally tie the knot, and he's found an ideal bride while in Hannover: 17 years old Augusta von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Queen Caroline adds he should ditch the girlfriend with the child she refuses to believe is her son's. Fritz of Wales, who is about to break up with Miss Vane anyway and according to Hervey has been eying another mistress, takes this parental news and commands well for a change and sends his flunky Lord Baltimore to Miss Vane, with a proposal that she should marry Lord Baltimore and get a pension, thus being cared for, but that it would be tactful to his future bride if she and Baltlimore were to travel abroad for a while. The kid, however, should stay here (and he swears he'll continue to take care of it). Miss Vane upon Hervey's advice and using Hervey as ghostwriter fires off an indignant letter that he's breaking her heart and no way will she leave the country her child is in and what kind of thrifty bastard is he anyway? The upshot of this is that the Lord Baltlimore marriage is off the table, Miss Vane gets a larger pension in her own name and doesn't have to leave the country. Alas, she then goes to Bath to enjoy the spa and dies. Little Fitzfrederick also dies with just a week distance. Hervey grudgingly admits Fritz of Wales seemed more distressed about this than anyone had thought him capable of being.
On to Lady Archibald Hamilton, according to Hervey the new mistress of the love rat. (Again, it's worth keeping in mind that the same Hervey who is writing all this managed to juggle his own wife, Miss Vane, Stephen Fox and Fritz of Wales.)
Lady Archibald Hamilton was not young, had never been very pretty, and had lost at least as much of that small share of beauty she once possessed as it is usual for women to do at five-and-thirty, after being the mother of ten children. Her husband, Lord Archibald Hamilton, was a Scotchman, uncle to the Duke of Hamilton, a Lord of the Admiralty, and of so quiet, so secure, and contented a temper, that he seemed cut out to play the passive character his wife and the Prince had graciously allotted him. His wife was cunning, and had just sense enough to make that cunning useful to her, when employed to work on such a husband as Lord Archibald Hamilton, and such a lover as the Prince of Wales ; and succeeded perfectly well in flattering the first into an opinion of her virtue, and the latter into an admiration of her beauty and understanding, which she facilitated by the much easier task of making the Prince believe she was entirely captivated by his. But as there always are some people who doubt of the most notorious intrigues, as well as others who make no doubt of what only themselves believe, so there were some few who thought, or, I rather believe, affected to think, that this commerce between Lady Archibald Hamilton and the Prince was merely platonic, though stronger symptoms of an affaire faite never appeared on any pair than were to be seen between this couple. He saw her often at her own house, where he seemed as welcome to the master as the mistress ; he met her often, too, at her sister's; walked with her day after day for hours together tete-a-tete in a morning in St. James's Park ; and whenever she was at the drawing-room (which was pretty frequently), his behaviour was so remarkable that his nose and her ear were inseparable(...)
And you thought Voltaire was bitchy about Fritz and Fredersdorf. Lady Archibald Hamilton becomes lady-in-waiting to the new bride, Augusta. Augusta has gotten one of those long distance royal marriages where a substitute gets send and brings the bride home, to which Lord Delaware:
Lord Delaware, if the King chose him to prevent the Prince's having any jealousy of his future bride's affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon ; for, except his white staff and red riband, as Knight of the Bath, I know of nothing belonging to the long, lank, awkward person of Lord Delaware that could attract her eyes ; nor do I believe there could be found in any of the Goth or Yandal courts of Germany a more unpolished ambassador for such an occasion.
Augusta, poor girl, arrives in Britain and throws herself on the ground before the King and Queen, which wins them over for a few days at least. Hervey, however, is not impressed: She could speak not one word of English, and few of French; and when it was proposed the year before to her mother, when this match was resolved upon, that she should be taught one of these languages, her mother said it must be quite unnecessary, for the Hanover Family having been above twenty years on the throne, to be sure most people in England spoke German (and especially at Court) as often and as well as English. A conjecture so well founded that I believe there were not three natives in England that understood one word of it better than in the reign of Queen Anne.
Hervey, I think that says rather more about British nobility than it does about Augusta's Mom's assumptions.
The Princess was rather tall, and had health and youth enough in her face, joined to a very modest andgood-natured look, to make her countenance not disagreeable; but her person, from being very ill-made, a good deal awry, her arms long, and her motions awkward, had, in spite of all the finery of jewels and brocade, an ordinary air, which no trappings could cover or exalt.
Now if you think only women who have sex with Fritz of Wales are the objects of Hervey's scorn, you're mistaken. He's just as malicious about the woman who would have married Fritz of Prussia, to wit, Princess Amalie (as her mother calls her) or Emily (as Hervey calls her). The only princess Hervey likes is Princess Caroline, but as for Amalia/Emily/Amalie:
The Queen used to speak to Lord Hervey on this subject with as little reserve when the Princess Caroline was present, as when alone ; but never before the Princess Emily, who had managed her affairs so well, as to have lost entirely the confidence of her mother, without having obtained the friendship of her brother; by trying to make her court by turns to both, she had by turns betrayed both, and at last lost both. Princess Emily had much the least sense, except her brother, of the family, but had for two years much the prettiest person. She was lively, false, and a great liar ; did many ill offices to people, and no good ones; and, for want of prudence, said as many shocking she said disagreeable ones behind their backs. She had as many enemies as acquaintances, for nobody knew her without disliking her. Lord Hervey was very ill with her : she had first used him ill, to flatter her brother, which of course had made him not use her very well ; and the preference on every occasion he gave her sister, the Princess Caroline, completed their mutual dislike. Princess Caroline had affability without meanness, dignity without pride, cheerfulness without levity, and . prudence without falsehood.
So much for the maybe Queen of Prussia. I should say here she sounds far more amiable in her wiki entry, which is the only other thing I've read about her. Who knows?
If Chesterfield was married to a Schulenburg sister, that means he's distantly related to the Kattes, thus also justifying imaginary descendant's name of Philip Stanhope in "Zeithain"
If my research is correct, it's even crazier than that. I've done my best to organize the convoluted genealogical relationships below.
Act 1
Dramatis Personae
1) Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal: Related by marriage (but not blood, as far as we can tell), to the Kattes. Called Aunt Melusine by Hans Hermann. Mistress of George I. She and G1 had 3 daughters, (2) - (4) below.
2) Anna Luise von der Schulenburg, Countess of Dölitz: Or "d'Elitz," as Hervey spells it. Oldest daughter of G1 and Melusine. Mistress of G1, G2, and FoW, according to Hervey.
3) Petronella von der Schulenburg: 2nd daughter of G1 and Melusine. Possibly had an affair with visiting Hans Hermann in the 1720s, per a letter from Hans Heinrich to his brother. Married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, aka the famous Chesterfield, in 1733.
4) Margarethe Gertrud von Oeynhausen: 3rd daughter of G1 and Melusine. I have no stories about her (yet).
5) Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield: The famous one. Married to Melusine's daughter Petronella. British envoy to the Netherlands in 1730. Helped Peter Keith escape to England.
6) Philip Stanhope: Modern-day protagonist of Zeithain. Fictional descendant of Petronella and Chesterfield, who in reality had no children together.
See also the family tree, which is missing Melusine's other daughters, because at the time I made it, I didn't know that one was of such interest to gossipy sensationalists. ;)
Scene 1 Philip Stanhope is so named because Melusine's daughter Petronella married Lord Chesterfield.
Scene 2 When Hervey writes, "Madame d'Elitz was a Schulemberg, sister to my Lady Chesterfield," it's because Madame d'Elitz is Melusine's oldest daughter, and Melusine's second daughter, Petronella, is Lady Chesterfield (as of 1733).
Scene 3 If Anna Luise has been sleeping with G1, G2, and FoW, or any combination thereof, those are her father, half-brother, and half-nephew. That's one generation more (that I know of) than Countess Orzelska, supposed lover of her father and half-brother!
Act 2
Dramatis Personae
7) Gertrud von der Schulenberg: Sister of Melusine. Wife of Friedrich Achaz von der Schulenburg, who is clearly related to her, although how closely, I can't say. Adoptive mother of (2) - (3), Anna Luise and Petronella.
8) Friedrich Achaz von der Schulenburg: Married to Melusine's sister. Related to his wife somehow. Adoptive father of Melusine's two oldest children by G1.
Scene 1 You might have been lured into thinking that Anna Luise and Petronella are von der Schulenbergs because their mother Melusine was a von der Schulenberg and they were illegitimate, but no, that would be too easy.
The reason Anna Luise (2) and Petronella (3) are von der Schulenbergs, while their younger sister (4) is not, is that the first two were adopted by their mother's sister, Aunt Gertrud, and it so happens that Aunt Gertrud had married a relative by the same last name. Whereas (4) was adopted by a *different* sister of Melusine, who had married a different man, and thus had a different last name.
Scene 2 So when Hervey writes, "Madame d'Elitz set out for England, where she now was with her aunt and sister, the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Chesterfield," it's because her aunt, the Duchess of Kendal, is actually her mother (you know, like all the popes and their "nephews"), and her adoptive mother is her real mother's sister.
So I'm speculating that Hervey thinks Madame d'Elitz is actually the daughter of Melusine's sister and *not* the daughter of G1 and Melusine, otherwise we'd be hearing a lot more about supposed incest? Or could that be the product of grandson + editor bowdlerization?
I can't give you a genealogical visual here, but I might make one up at some point, back pain permitting. Because wow. ;)
So I'm speculating that Hervey thinks Madame d'Elitz is actually the daughter of Melusine's sister and *not* the daughter of G1 and Melusine, otherwise we'd be hearing a lot more about supposed incest? Or could that be the product of grandson + editor bowdlerization?
While the later isn't impossible, my money is on the former, and futhermore, that it's another case of English nobles mistaking the Hannover royals treating their illegitimate kin as family members meaning said kin are mistresses. Given the precedent of Sophia von Kielmannsegg/Lady Darlington, that makes sense. Besides, Hervey mentions being bored to tears and tuning out whenever G2, who loved talking genealogy - it was a hobby of his - started on who was related to whom. Thus, Hervey might have missed the mention that this lady was in fact G2's half sister, if, that is, G2 bothered to mention it.
Also, thank you so much on another superb job, Royal Librarian and Genealogist! And so it's still true that Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam by the husband of Katte's sort of cousin and possible deflowerer. Saved in more sense than one, because the essay you so kindly allowed me to read contains some great info on the years 1730 - 1732, among them that in 1730, there was a big scandal and trial against hundreds of gay men which made international waves.
another case of English nobles mistaking the Hannover royals treating their illegitimate kin as family members meaning said kin are mistresses
Ah, yes, that does make sense. I think we've solved this mystery! (Pending further evidence, as always.)
Hervey mentions being bored to tears and tuning out whenever G2, who loved talking genealogy - it was a hobby of his - started on who was related to whom.
Lololol, yep, I bet that'd do it.
And so it's still true that Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam by the husband of Katte's sort of cousin and possible deflowerer.
Future husband, but yes. I'd thought it was only unreliable Wilhelmine and unreliable son of Keith who mentioned Chesterfield by name, but I checked Kloosterhuis yesterday, and it's also in the Mylius write-up that Keith was admitted to Chesterfield's house for asylum, and Mylius cites his sources, so I'm taking it as true. Though from the report, it kind of looks like Chesterfield wasn't directly involved?
Ob nun gleich der nachgeschickte Königlich Preußische Obrist du Moulin und der preußische Envoyé alle Mühe angewendet, seiner habhafft zu werden, auch von denen committirten Räthen von Holland eine Ordre an den Cammer-Bewaerder erhalten gehabt, denselben arretiren zu lassen, so ist es doch umsonst gewesen, indem nach des Cammer-Bewaerders Rapport vom 15. August 1730 und anderen habenden Nachrichten schon Tages zuvor gegen Abend der von Kait mit dem Cammer[-Diener] des Generallieutenants Baron von Keppel, so ehmahls alß Envoyé in Berlin gewesen, aus dem Quartier ,Zu 3 Schwalben‘ genant weggegangen, nachdem kurtz vorher seine Hardes nach des Haußknechts Rapport in des Großbritannischen Ambassadeurs Mylords Graffen von Chesterfields Hauß getragen und an obbesagten Cammerdiener abgegeben worden.
Im Haag hat dieser von Kait sich sehr bemühet, einen Comte d’Halberville auszufragen, hat sich auch unter dem Nahmen eines Graffen von Sparr an- fangs bey den obbesagten Generallieutenant Baron von Keppel anmelden laßen, jedoch derselbe ihn nicht gekant. Weil aber deßelben Cammerdiener nicht wißen wollen, wohin der von Kait gekommen sey, und in Abwesenheit des Graffen von Chesterfields der Secretarius sich gegen den Preußischen Envoyé und erwehnten Obristen entschuldiget, daß ihn nicht zustehe, einige Recherches zu thun und über die Domestiquen sich dergleichen Autoritaet anzumaßen, so ist im Haag seine Persohn weiter aufzusuchen umsonst gewesen. Es hat auch der desertirte von Kait sich nicht mehr lange aufgehalten, sondern sich weggemacht, und ist den 18ten August früh in Gesellschaft des Haus- [und] Hof-Meisters von besagtem Graffen und nebst noch 2 Persohnen zu Schevelingen mit einer Kutsche angekommen, und nachdem er von denenselben an ein dazu gemiethetes Pinco oder Fischer-Schiff begleitet worden, ist er ohnerachtet der Wind sehr contrair gewesen, daß auch andere Schiffe in die Maas zurückgetrieben worden, dennoch in aller Eyl ab- und nach Engelland übergegangen.
My take on this:
Mylius: "FW, please believe us, your guys tried REALLY HARD to capture that Peter, but to no avail. Here's why.
"According to the report I have in hand, written on 15. August 1730, Peter had shown up at Chesterfield's house the day before, toward evening, together with the chamberlain of Baron von Keppel [Mildred: this guy, I think] who formerly had been envoy in Berlin [Mildred: I'm assuming that's where Peter knew him from].
"Now, Peter had been asking all around the Hague after Fritz's pseudonym, and initially introduced himself under his own, but von Keppel [Mildred: apparently a British courtier with ties to the Netherlands] didn't know him under that name [Mildred: and presumably wouldn't admit him until he gave his real name].
"Then the Prussians showed up the next day, and Keppel's chamberlain was like, 'Sorry, Chesterfield isn't here atm, Peter who? I can't help you, no authority to investigate this on my own or tell Chesterfield's staff what to do, plz go away.' So our Prussian guys had to give up as they got totally stonewalled by the British.
"Then three days later, Peter was taken to the coast by Chesterfield's staff, and set sail in all haste to England, even though it was so stormy that other ships were being driven back to the Meuse.
"Sorry, Your Majesty! Points for effort?"
nachdem kurtz vorher seine Hardes nach des Haußknechts Rapport
Google and I are stumped on "Hardes." All I can find is "old clothes, rags" in Norman. Help?
the essay you so kindly allowed me to read contains some great info on the years 1730 - 1732, among them that in 1730, there was a big scandal and trial against hundreds of gay men which made international waves.
Ooh, I can't wait for the write-up on this one! I've been thinking that we should dig a little more into the history of homosexuality during our period, only I have to learn German before I can start reading new things. So yay for you reading new things and telling us about them! The free, made-to-order education never fails to astound me. All hail Royal Reader!
Seine Hardes - Rokoko German strikes again. I have to guess from context and can't think of an appropriate newer German or French word - Rokoko German having a lot of those - but how about: "...after just a short while earlier, his luggage had been transported to the above named house of the Ambassador of Great Britain, Mylord Earl of Chesterfield, and had been delivered to the earlier named valet; this according to the report of the house servant."
(A Hausknecht is far lower ranking than a Kammerdiener, if you're wondering, but you don't have a different word for "Knecht" and "Diener" in English, do you?)
It's a highly useful essay, and the authors are good enough to make it clear what data they have, and where their speculation starts. They're also really good at establishing context.
Yeah, I could tell that none of my Google hits for this word postdated 1900, so I figured it was an old-fashioned one. Thanks for taking your best stab at it!
(A Hausknecht is far lower ranking than a Kammerdiener, if you're wondering, but you don't have a different word for "Knecht" and "Diener" in English, do you?)
I had figured as much, but as for English translations...I'm sure thanks to 19th century English country houses, we could convey the hierarchical difference, but I'm not sure exactly how. Valet/chamberlain is pretty high-ranking in English, and as for Hausknecht...google tells me that "house boy" has a different meaning today, although "house boy" and "hall boy" were both used for low-ranking English servants, as was "page". "Footman" is more easily recognized today, though I don't know if it would be the appropriate equivalent of Hausknecht.
It's a highly useful essay, and the authors are good enough to make it clear what data they have, and where their speculation starts. They're also really good at establishing context.
Wonderful! Largely because of the paywall, we haven't been reading many recent essays, as opposed to books, in our salon, but I do have JSTOR access myself if you ever want anything from there, and Royal Patron has broader access, though with more of a delay.
ETA: Just from reading the footnote to the first page, I see: This paper springs from a joint project on John, Lord Hervey, which the authors intend will lead in due course to a new edition of his 'Memoirs' and correspondence.
Nice! Because we need one.
Hmm. Though this article was published in 2009, the new edition doesn't seem to be out yet, though Smith's web page says, "I continue to pursue an interest in eighteenth-century court culture through work on a new edition of Lord Hervey’s Memoirs of the Reign of King George II, co-edited with Stephen Taylor." No idea how recently her page was updated, though.
ETA2: Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam
Just a nitpick: The Hague. That was Fritz's destination, that's where Chesterfield and the other envoys lived, and that's where the government is based even today, even though Amsterdam is the capital. Wikipedia tells me:
In 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, the settlement was granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France. As a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, while the government was situated in The Hague.
TFW your capital changes every two years, I guess.
I was delighted and surprised to get more Hervey :D Though I hope you can sleep better!
Mildred, if you do get around to writing Fritz in G2's presence, imagine how the Hannover and Germany praise goes down then. :)
Lol, this would be awesome. Write this and I will bring popcorn :D
Alas, she then goes to Bath to enjoy the spa and dies. Little Fitzfrederick also dies with just a week distance. Hervey grudgingly admits Fritz of Wales seemed more distressed about this than anyone had thought him capable of being.
Sad as this is for Vane, I have to admit I laughed. Oh Hervey.
And you thought Voltaire was bitchy about Fritz and Fredersdorf.
lololol wow! I see that malicious gossip columnists have nothing on Hervey!
so there were some few who thought, or, I rather believe, affected to think, that this commerce between Lady Archibald Hamilton and the Prince was merely platonic, though stronger symptoms of an affaire faite never appeared on any pair than were to be seen between this couple.
So... was she actually his mistress?
Lord Delaware, if the King chose him to prevent the Prince's having any jealousy of his future bride's affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon
Man this guy does have a spiteful and hilarious way of phrasing things!
Lord Hervey was very ill with her : she had first used him ill, to flatter her brother, which of course had made him not use her very well ; and the preference on every occasion he gave her sister, the Princess Caroline, completed their mutual dislike.
Ha. The sympathies of this passage are definitely on the side of this "Lord Hervey" character :P I wouldn't trust his take on her either :P
Lady Archibald Hamilton, first name Jane: Wiki says she was his mistress, though Wiki appears to have Hervey as a source on this. However, wiki also tells me she was the mother of none other than Sir William Hamilton, later to first shock everyone by marrying Emma and then by being in a menage a trois with her and Nelson. Perhaps Sir William learned unconventional attitudes towards domestic arrangements from his parents?
Man this guy does have a spiteful and hilarious way of phrasing things!
Doesn't he just? Which is why I find it, in retrospect, really remarkable Franz Stephan got praised as he did by the super critical Hervey when visiting Britain. (I mean, Hervey's also extremely complimentary about the Fox brothers and Algarotti, but he was in love with each of these at different times, and wasn't, as far as anyone knows, in love with Franz Stephan.)
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timeasmymeasure
Hervey's Memoirs: Those Germans!
Date: 2020-09-19 02:06 pm (UTC)Okay, onwards: G2 keeps irritating his English subjects with visiting Hannover, remember. On one such visit, his English mistress, Lady Sussex, gets married again despite being in her 40s. G2 hears about it from Caroline via letter, drags out his time in Hannover, and comes back with a German (!) mistress, Madame Waldmoden, the ultimate insult. This causes Lord Hervey to muse thusly:
Whilst the late King lived, everybody imagined this Prince loved England and hated Germany ; but from the time of his first journey, after he was King, to Hanover, people began to find, if they had not been deceived in their former opinion, at least they would be so in their xpectations; and that his thoughts, whatever they might have been, were no longer turned either with contempt or dislike to his Electoral dominions.
But after this last journey Hanover had so completed the conquest of his affections, that there was nothing English ever commended in his presence that he did not always show, or pretend to show, was surpassed by something of the same kind in Germany. No English or even French cook could dress a dinner; no English confectioner set out a dessert ; no English player could act ; no English coachman could drive, or
English jockey ride; nor were any English horses fit to be drove or fit to be ridden; no Englishman knew how to come into a room, nor any Englishwoman how to dress herself; nor were there any diversions in England, public or private ; nor any man or woman in England whose conversation was to be borne—the one, as he said, talking of nothing but their dull politics, and the others of nothing but their ugly clothes. Whereas at Hanover all these things were in the utmost perfection: the men were patterns of politeness, bravery, and gallantry; the women of beauty, wit, and entertainment; his troops there were the bravest in the world, his counsellors the wisest, his manufacturers the most ingenious,
his subjects the happiest; and at Hanover, in short, plenty reigned, magnificence resided, arts flourished, diversions abounded, riches flowed, and everything was in the utmost perfection that contributes to make a prince great or a people blessed. (...)
In truth he hated the English, looked upon them all as king-killers and republicans, grudged them their riches as well as their liberty, thought them all overpaid, and said to Lady Sundon one day as she was waiting at dinner, just after he returned from Germany, that he was forced to distribute his favours here verydifferently from the manner in which he bestowed them at Hanover ; /that there he rewarded people for doing
their duty and serving him well, but that here he was obliged to enrich people for being rascals, and buy them not to cut his throat.
The Queen did not always think in a different style of the English, though she kept her thoughts more to herself than the King, as being more prudent, more sensible, and more mistress of her passions ; yet even she could not entirely disguise these sentiments to the observation of those who were perpetually about her, and put her upon subjects that betrayed her into revealing them.
Hervey was a satirist, so I'm taking this a pinch of salt and the awareness that G2 believing some things were better in Hannover would already been taken as Britain bashing by most Brits, given their idea of England as the climax of civilisation. This said, I still find it amusing, and Mildred, if you do get around to writing Fritz in G2's presence, imagine how the Hannover and Germany praise goes down then. :)
Caroline, btw, never goes with G2 to Hannover; she stays because he always makes her regent in his absence. (Never Fritz of Wales.) Which she thoroughly enjoys. Hervey, ever ready to share scandal, can't report one more about Madame W. other than that he can't understand what G2 sees in her, so he turns towards another German lady in G2's entourage and claims one of "Aunt" Melusine's sisters has also been getting it on with not one, but two Georges and Fritz of Wales:
This Madame d'Elitz was a Schulemberg, sister to my Lady Chesterfield—a very handsome lady, though now a little in her decline, with a reat deal of wit, who had had a thousand lovers, and had been catched in bed with a man twenty years ago, and been divorced from her husband upon it. She was said to have been mistress to three generations of the Hanover family — the late King, the present, and the Prince of Wales before he came to England, which was one generation more than the Duchess of Valentinois " (mistress to Henry II.) could boast of in France. The present King had quitted Madame d'Elitz for Madame Walmoden, upon which a quarrel ensued between the two ladies, and the King thereupon had turned Madame d'Elitz out of the palace the year before; just therefore when the King set out for Hanover this year, Madame d'Elitz set out for England, where she now was with her aunt and sister, the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Chesterfield.
Note from our Victorian editor Croker: Hervey is wrong about Diane de Poitiers having slept with Francis I. of France as well as his son Henry II (the one married to Catherine de' Medici), that was slander, and he's probably slandering the third Schulenburg sister as well. He could be right. Anyway, how come we haven't heard of her before?
ETA: Also: didn't Lord Chesterfield help Peter Keith leave Amsterdam hidden as part of his entourage? If Chesterfield was married to a Schulenburg sister, that means he's distantly related to the Kattes, thus also justifying imaginary descendant's name of Philip Stanhope in "Zeithain". Anyway: I propose someone should filk "The Schuyler Sisters" to "The Schulenburg Sisters" /ETA
Speaking of mistresses: G2 makes it known Fritz of Wales should finally tie the knot, and he's found an ideal bride while in Hannover: 17 years old Augusta von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Queen Caroline adds he should ditch the girlfriend with the child she refuses to believe is her son's. Fritz of Wales, who is about to break up with Miss Vane anyway and according to Hervey has been eying another mistress, takes this parental news and commands well for a change and sends his flunky Lord Baltimore to Miss Vane, with a proposal that she should marry Lord Baltimore and get a pension, thus being cared for, but that it would be tactful to his future bride if she and Baltlimore were to travel abroad for a while. The kid, however, should stay here (and he swears he'll continue to take care of it). Miss Vane upon Hervey's advice and using Hervey as ghostwriter fires off an indignant letter that he's breaking her heart and no way will she leave the country her child is in and what kind of thrifty bastard is he anyway? The upshot of this is that the Lord Baltlimore marriage is off the table, Miss Vane gets a larger pension in her own name and doesn't have to leave the country. Alas, she then goes to Bath to enjoy the spa and dies. Little Fitzfrederick also dies with just a week distance. Hervey grudgingly admits Fritz of Wales seemed more distressed about this than anyone had thought him capable of being.
On to Lady Archibald Hamilton, according to Hervey the new mistress of the love rat. (Again, it's worth keeping in mind that the same Hervey who is writing all this managed to juggle his own wife, Miss Vane, Stephen Fox and Fritz of Wales.)
Lady Archibald Hamilton was not young, had never been very pretty, and had lost at least as much of that small share of beauty she once possessed as it is usual for women to do at five-and-thirty, after being the mother of ten children. Her husband, Lord Archibald Hamilton, was a Scotchman, uncle to the Duke of Hamilton, a Lord of the Admiralty, and of so quiet, so secure, and contented
a temper, that he seemed cut out to play the passive character his wife and the Prince had graciously allotted him. His wife was cunning, and had just sense enough to make that cunning useful to her, when employed to work on such a husband as Lord Archibald Hamilton, and such a lover as the Prince of Wales ; and succeeded perfectly well in flattering the first into an opinion of
her virtue, and the latter into an admiration of her beauty and understanding, which she facilitated by the much easier task of making the Prince believe she was entirely captivated by his.
But as there always are some people who doubt of the most notorious intrigues, as well as others who make no doubt of what only themselves believe, so there were some few who thought, or, I rather believe, affected to think, that this commerce between Lady Archibald Hamilton and the Prince was merely platonic, though stronger symptoms of an affaire faite never appeared on any pair than were to be seen between this couple. He saw her often at her own house, where he seemed as welcome to the master as the mistress ; he met her often, too, at her sister's; walked with her day after day for hours together tete-a-tete in a morning in St. James's Park ; and whenever she was at the drawing-room (which was pretty frequently), his behaviour was so remarkable
that his nose and her ear were inseparable(...)
And you thought Voltaire was bitchy about Fritz and Fredersdorf. Lady Archibald Hamilton becomes lady-in-waiting to the new bride, Augusta. Augusta has gotten one of those long distance royal marriages where a substitute gets send and brings the bride home, to which Lord Delaware:
Lord Delaware, if the King chose him to prevent the Prince's having any jealousy of his future bride's affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon ; for, except his white staff and red riband, as Knight of the Bath, I know of nothing belonging to the long, lank, awkward person of Lord Delaware that could attract her eyes ; nor do I believe there could be found in any of the Goth or Yandal courts of Germany a more unpolished ambassador for such an occasion.
Augusta, poor girl, arrives in Britain and throws herself on the ground before the King and Queen, which wins them over for a few days at least. Hervey, however, is not impressed:
She could speak not one word of English, and few of French; and when it was proposed the year before to her mother, when this match was resolved upon, that she should be taught one of these languages, her mother said it must be quite unnecessary, for the Hanover Family having been above twenty years on the throne, to be sure most people in England spoke German (and especially at Court) as often and as well as English. A conjecture so well founded that I believe there were not three natives in England that understood one word of it better than in the reign of Queen Anne.
Hervey, I think that says rather more about British nobility than it does about Augusta's Mom's assumptions.
The Princess was rather tall, and had health and youth enough in her face, joined to a very modest andgood-natured look, to make her countenance not disagreeable; but her person, from being very ill-made, a good deal awry, her arms long, and her motions
awkward, had, in spite of all the finery of jewels and brocade, an ordinary air, which no trappings could cover or exalt.
Now if you think only women who have sex with Fritz of Wales are the objects of Hervey's scorn, you're mistaken. He's just as malicious about the woman who would have married Fritz of Prussia, to wit, Princess Amalie (as her mother calls her) or Emily (as Hervey calls her). The only princess Hervey likes is Princess Caroline, but as for Amalia/Emily/Amalie:
The Queen used to speak to Lord Hervey on this subject with as little reserve when the Princess Caroline was present, as when alone ; but never before the Princess Emily, who had managed her affairs so well, as to have lost entirely the confidence of her mother, without having obtained the friendship of her brother; by trying to make her court by turns to both, she had by turns betrayed both, and at last lost both. Princess Emily had much the least sense, except her brother, of the family, but had for two years much the prettiest person. She was lively, false, and a great liar ; did many ill offices to people, and no good ones; and, for want of prudence, said as many shocking she said disagreeable ones behind their backs. She had as many enemies as acquaintances, for nobody knew her without disliking her.
Lord Hervey was very ill with her : she had first used him ill, to flatter her brother, which of course had made him not use her very well ; and the preference on every occasion he gave her sister, the Princess Caroline, completed their mutual dislike. Princess Caroline had affability without meanness, dignity without pride, cheerfulness without levity, and . prudence without falsehood.
So much for the maybe Queen of Prussia. I should say here she sounds far more amiable in her wiki entry, which is the only other thing I've read about her. Who knows?
Chesterfields, Schulenburgs, and Kattes, oh my!
Date: 2020-09-19 10:00 pm (UTC)If my research is correct, it's even crazier than that. I've done my best to organize the convoluted genealogical relationships below.
Act 1
Dramatis Personae
1) Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal: Related by marriage (but not blood, as far as we can tell), to the Kattes. Called Aunt Melusine by Hans Hermann. Mistress of George I. She and G1 had 3 daughters, (2) - (4) below.
2) Anna Luise von der Schulenburg, Countess of Dölitz: Or "d'Elitz," as Hervey spells it. Oldest daughter of G1 and Melusine. Mistress of G1, G2, and FoW, according to Hervey.
3) Petronella von der Schulenburg: 2nd daughter of G1 and Melusine. Possibly had an affair with visiting Hans Hermann in the 1720s, per a letter from Hans Heinrich to his brother. Married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, aka the famous Chesterfield, in 1733.
4) Margarethe Gertrud von Oeynhausen: 3rd daughter of G1 and Melusine. I have no stories about her (yet).
5) Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield: The famous one. Married to Melusine's daughter Petronella. British envoy to the Netherlands in 1730. Helped Peter Keith escape to England.
6) Philip Stanhope: Modern-day protagonist of Zeithain. Fictional descendant of Petronella and Chesterfield, who in reality had no children together.
See also the family tree, which is missing Melusine's other daughters, because at the time I made it, I didn't know that one was of such interest to gossipy sensationalists. ;)
Scene 1
Philip Stanhope is so named because Melusine's daughter Petronella married Lord Chesterfield.
Scene 2
When Hervey writes, "Madame d'Elitz was a Schulemberg, sister to my Lady Chesterfield," it's because Madame d'Elitz is Melusine's oldest daughter, and Melusine's second daughter, Petronella, is Lady Chesterfield (as of 1733).
Scene 3
If Anna Luise has been sleeping with G1, G2, and FoW, or any combination thereof, those are her father, half-brother, and half-nephew. That's one generation more (that I know of) than Countess Orzelska, supposed lover of her father and half-brother!
Act 2
Dramatis Personae
7) Gertrud von der Schulenberg: Sister of Melusine. Wife of Friedrich Achaz von der Schulenburg, who is clearly related to her, although how closely, I can't say. Adoptive mother of (2) - (3), Anna Luise and Petronella.
8) Friedrich Achaz von der Schulenburg: Married to Melusine's sister. Related to his wife somehow. Adoptive father of Melusine's two oldest children by G1.
Scene 1
You might have been lured into thinking that Anna Luise and Petronella are von der Schulenbergs because their mother Melusine was a von der Schulenberg and they were illegitimate, but no, that would be too easy.
The reason Anna Luise (2) and Petronella (3) are von der Schulenbergs, while their younger sister (4) is not, is that the first two were adopted by their mother's sister, Aunt Gertrud, and it so happens that Aunt Gertrud had married a relative by the same last name. Whereas (4) was adopted by a *different* sister of Melusine, who had married a different man, and thus had a different last name.
Scene 2
So when Hervey writes, "Madame d'Elitz set out for England, where she now was with her aunt and sister, the Duchess of Kendal and Lady Chesterfield," it's because her aunt, the Duchess of Kendal, is actually her mother (you know, like all the popes and their "nephews"), and her adoptive mother is her real mother's sister.
So I'm speculating that Hervey thinks Madame d'Elitz is actually the daughter of Melusine's sister and *not* the daughter of G1 and Melusine, otherwise we'd be hearing a lot more about supposed incest? Or could that be the product of grandson + editor bowdlerization?
I can't give you a genealogical visual here, but I might make one up at some point, back pain permitting. Because wow. ;)
Re: Chesterfields, Schulenburgs, and Kattes, oh my!
Date: 2020-09-20 03:47 pm (UTC)While the later isn't impossible, my money is on the former, and futhermore, that it's another case of English nobles mistaking the Hannover royals treating their illegitimate kin as family members meaning said kin are mistresses. Given the precedent of Sophia von Kielmannsegg/Lady Darlington, that makes sense. Besides, Hervey mentions being bored to tears and tuning out whenever G2, who loved talking genealogy - it was a hobby of his - started on who was related to whom. Thus, Hervey might have missed the mention that this lady was in fact G2's half sister, if, that is, G2 bothered to mention it.
Also, thank you so much on another superb job, Royal Librarian and Genealogist! And so it's still true that Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam by the husband of Katte's sort of cousin and possible deflowerer. Saved in more sense than one, because the essay you so kindly allowed me to read contains some great info on the years 1730 - 1732, among them that in 1730, there was a big scandal and trial against hundreds of gay men which made international waves.
Re: Chesterfields, Schulenburgs, and Kattes, oh my!
Date: 2020-09-20 05:02 pm (UTC)Ah, yes, that does make sense. I think we've solved this mystery! (Pending further evidence, as always.)
Hervey mentions being bored to tears and tuning out whenever G2, who loved talking genealogy - it was a hobby of his - started on who was related to whom.
Lololol, yep, I bet that'd do it.
And so it's still true that Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam by the husband of Katte's sort of cousin and possible deflowerer.
Future husband, but yes. I'd thought it was only unreliable Wilhelmine and unreliable son of Keith who mentioned Chesterfield by name, but I checked Kloosterhuis yesterday, and it's also in the Mylius write-up that Keith was admitted to Chesterfield's house for asylum, and Mylius cites his sources, so I'm taking it as true. Though from the report, it kind of looks like Chesterfield wasn't directly involved?
Ob nun gleich der nachgeschickte Königlich Preußische Obrist du Moulin und der preußische Envoyé alle Mühe angewendet, seiner habhafft zu werden, auch von denen committirten Räthen von Holland eine Ordre an den Cammer-Bewaerder erhalten gehabt, denselben arretiren zu lassen, so ist es doch umsonst gewesen, indem nach des Cammer-Bewaerders Rapport vom 15. August 1730 und anderen habenden Nachrichten schon Tages zuvor gegen Abend der von Kait mit dem Cammer[-Diener] des Generallieutenants Baron von Keppel, so ehmahls alß Envoyé in Berlin gewesen, aus dem Quartier ,Zu 3 Schwalben‘ genant weggegangen, nachdem kurtz vorher seine Hardes nach des Haußknechts Rapport in des Großbritannischen Ambassadeurs Mylords Graffen von Chesterfields Hauß getragen und an obbesagten Cammerdiener abgegeben worden.
Im Haag hat dieser von Kait sich sehr bemühet, einen Comte d’Halberville auszufragen, hat sich auch unter dem Nahmen eines Graffen von Sparr an-
fangs bey den obbesagten Generallieutenant Baron von Keppel anmelden laßen, jedoch derselbe ihn nicht gekant. Weil aber deßelben Cammerdiener nicht wißen wollen, wohin der von Kait gekommen sey, und in Abwesenheit des Graffen von Chesterfields der Secretarius sich gegen den Preußischen Envoyé und erwehnten Obristen entschuldiget, daß ihn nicht zustehe, einige Recherches zu thun und über die Domestiquen sich dergleichen Autoritaet anzumaßen, so ist im Haag seine Persohn weiter aufzusuchen umsonst gewesen. Es hat auch der desertirte von Kait sich nicht mehr lange aufgehalten, sondern sich weggemacht, und ist den 18ten August früh in Gesellschaft des Haus- [und] Hof-Meisters von besagtem Graffen und nebst noch 2 Persohnen zu Schevelingen mit einer Kutsche angekommen, und nachdem er von denenselben an ein dazu gemiethetes Pinco oder Fischer-Schiff begleitet worden, ist er ohnerachtet der Wind sehr contrair gewesen, daß auch andere Schiffe in die Maas zurückgetrieben worden, dennoch in aller Eyl ab- und nach Engelland übergegangen.
My take on this:
Mylius: "FW, please believe us, your guys tried REALLY HARD to capture that Peter, but to no avail. Here's why.
"According to the report I have in hand, written on 15. August 1730, Peter had shown up at Chesterfield's house the day before, toward evening, together with the chamberlain of Baron von Keppel [Mildred: this guy, I think] who formerly had been envoy in Berlin [Mildred: I'm assuming that's where Peter knew him from].
"Now, Peter had been asking all around the Hague after Fritz's pseudonym, and initially introduced himself under his own, but von Keppel [Mildred: apparently a British courtier with ties to the Netherlands] didn't know him under that name [Mildred: and presumably wouldn't admit him until he gave his real name].
"Then the Prussians showed up the next day, and Keppel's chamberlain was like, 'Sorry, Chesterfield isn't here atm, Peter who? I can't help you, no authority to investigate this on my own or tell Chesterfield's staff what to do, plz go away.' So our Prussian guys had to give up as they got totally stonewalled by the British.
"Then three days later, Peter was taken to the coast by Chesterfield's staff, and set sail in all haste to England, even though it was so stormy that other ships were being driven back to the Meuse.
"Sorry, Your Majesty! Points for effort?"
nachdem kurtz vorher seine Hardes nach des Haußknechts Rapport
Google and I are stumped on "Hardes." All I can find is "old clothes, rags" in Norman. Help?
the essay you so kindly allowed me to read contains some great info on the years 1730 - 1732, among them that in 1730, there was a big scandal and trial against hundreds of gay men which made international waves.
Ooh, I can't wait for the write-up on this one! I've been thinking that we should dig a little more into the history of homosexuality during our period, only I have to learn German before I can start reading new things. So yay for you reading new things and telling us about them! The free, made-to-order education never fails to astound me. All hail Royal Reader!
Re: Chesterfields, Schulenburgs, and Kattes, oh my!
Date: 2020-09-20 07:22 pm (UTC)(A Hausknecht is far lower ranking than a Kammerdiener, if you're wondering, but you don't have a different word for "Knecht" and "Diener" in English, do you?)
It's a highly useful essay, and the authors are good enough to make it clear what data they have, and where their speculation starts. They're also really good at establishing context.
Re: Chesterfields, Schulenburgs, and Kattes, oh my!
Date: 2020-09-20 07:44 pm (UTC)Yeah, I could tell that none of my Google hits for this word postdated 1900, so I figured it was an old-fashioned one. Thanks for taking your best stab at it!
(A Hausknecht is far lower ranking than a Kammerdiener, if you're wondering, but you don't have a different word for "Knecht" and "Diener" in English, do you?)
I had figured as much, but as for English translations...I'm sure thanks to 19th century English country houses, we could convey the hierarchical difference, but I'm not sure exactly how. Valet/chamberlain is pretty high-ranking in English, and as for Hausknecht...google tells me that "house boy" has a different meaning today, although "house boy" and "hall boy" were both used for low-ranking English servants, as was "page". "Footman" is more easily recognized today, though I don't know if it would be the appropriate equivalent of Hausknecht.
It's a highly useful essay, and the authors are good enough to make it clear what data they have, and where their speculation starts. They're also really good at establishing context.
Wonderful! Largely because of the paywall, we haven't been reading many recent essays, as opposed to books, in our salon, but I do have JSTOR access myself if you ever want anything from there, and Royal Patron has broader access, though with more of a delay.
ETA: Just from reading the footnote to the first page, I see: This paper springs from a joint project on John, Lord Hervey, which the authors intend will lead in due course to a new edition of his 'Memoirs' and correspondence.
Nice! Because we need one.
Hmm. Though this article was published in 2009, the new edition doesn't seem to be out yet, though Smith's web page says, "I continue to pursue an interest in eighteenth-century court culture through work on a new edition of Lord Hervey’s Memoirs of the Reign of King George II, co-edited with Stephen Taylor." No idea how recently her page was updated, though.
ETA2: Peter Keith was saved in Amsterdam
Just a nitpick: The Hague. That was Fritz's destination, that's where Chesterfield and the other envoys lived, and that's where the government is based even today, even though Amsterdam is the capital. Wikipedia tells me:
In 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, the settlement was granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France. As a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, while the government was situated in The Hague.
TFW your capital changes every two years, I guess.
Re: Hervey's Memoirs: Those Germans!
Date: 2020-09-20 04:55 am (UTC)Mildred, if you do get around to writing Fritz in G2's presence, imagine how the Hannover and Germany praise goes down then. :)
Lol, this would be awesome. Write this and I will bring popcorn :D
Alas, she then goes to Bath to enjoy the spa and dies. Little Fitzfrederick also dies with just a week distance. Hervey grudgingly admits Fritz of Wales seemed more distressed about this than anyone had thought him capable of being.
Sad as this is for Vane, I have to admit I laughed. Oh Hervey.
And you thought Voltaire was bitchy about Fritz and Fredersdorf.
lololol wow! I see that malicious gossip columnists have nothing on Hervey!
so there were some few who thought, or, I rather believe, affected to think, that this commerce between Lady Archibald Hamilton and the Prince was merely platonic, though stronger symptoms of an affaire faite never appeared on any pair than were to be seen between this couple.
So... was she actually his mistress?
Lord Delaware, if the King chose him to prevent the Prince's having any jealousy of his future bride's affections being purloined on the way by him who was sent to attend her to England, was the properest man his Majesty could have pitched upon
Man this guy does have a spiteful and hilarious way of phrasing things!
Lord Hervey was very ill with her : she had first used him ill, to flatter her brother, which of course had made him not use her very well ; and the preference on every occasion he gave her sister, the Princess Caroline, completed their mutual dislike.
Ha. The sympathies of this passage are definitely on the side of this "Lord Hervey" character :P I wouldn't trust his take on her either :P
Re: Hervey's Memoirs: Those Germans!
Date: 2020-09-20 03:40 pm (UTC)Man this guy does have a spiteful and hilarious way of phrasing things!
Doesn't he just? Which is why I find it, in retrospect, really remarkable Franz Stephan got praised as he did by the super critical Hervey when visiting Britain. (I mean, Hervey's also extremely complimentary about the Fox brothers and Algarotti, but he was in love with each of these at different times, and wasn't, as far as anyone knows, in love with Franz Stephan.)
Re: Hervey's Memoirs: Those Germans!
Date: 2020-09-20 05:05 pm (UTC)Perhaps Sir William learned unconventional attitudes towards domestic arrangements from his parents?
Perhaps!
Which is why I find it, in retrospect, really remarkable Franz Stephan got praised as he did by the super critical Hervey when visiting Britain.
MT: My husband is the *best*.