Page:The Queens of England.djvu/557

CAROLINE WILHELMINA OF ANSPACH. 505 son took place ; originating probably from several causes, not the least being that the Electoral Prince doted on his mother, the unfortunate, and, there is every reason to believe, cruelly maligned Sophia of Zell. The discovery of the assassination of Count Konigsmark, which took place certainly by the order, and it is even said in the presence of, George the First, was made in after years, and to Caroline only were the details oi the murder, and of the finding of the body, made known by her husband. It was indeed a dreadful secret, which the most unloving son might well desire to keep. By his mother, too, George the First seemed to be scarcely more warmly regarded than by his son ; while the evident partiality of the Electress Sophia for her grandson was another cause of jealousy and estrangement between him and his father. On the accession of the latter to the throne of England, they came over together in apparent harmony ; but the fire of their old feuds was by no means extinguished, and burst out again more violently than ever. The flame was fanned by the parti- san spirit to which it gave birth ; one party voting a separate revenue of a hundred thousand a year to be settled on the Prince of Wales, and the other negativing it with equal fervor. While absent in Hanover, the king was in a measure compelled to cede the reins of government to the heir apparent, but he did it with ungracious reluctance ; and, instead of bestowing on him the expected and customary title of Regent, appointed him "Guardian of the Realm and Lieutenant." During all this "stormy weather," the Princess of Wales seems to have main- tained the respect, if she never won the regard, of her very un- lovable father-in-law. Indeed, he seems to have hated her rather more than he hated his son ; and the manner in which he used to speak of her as cette diablesse Madame la Princesse, was characteristic of the man and of his feelings. We must return, however, to earlier days, before Caroline was queen ; and among her household were two ladies who re- quire an especial introduction — Mrs. Clayton, afterwards Vis- countess Sundon ; and Mrs. Howard, afterward Countess of Suffolk. Charlotte Clayton — whose maiden name was Dyves — must have sprung from an obscure or perhaps humble family, since little or nothing is known of her until after her marriage with Mr. Clayton, a clerk in the Treasury. From the letters of several of her relations, of whose fortunes she never lost sight during the days of her own power and prosperity, it is evident they were in narrow, if not indigent circumstances. Yet in