loved any woman, it was Mrs. Fitzherbert, with whom he had appeared
at the altar.

Public opinion in England, under the inspiration of the Whigs, raised
a cry of indignation against the Prince. It was imagined, I presume,
that royal personage should be born without heart or feeling; that he
should have been able to live only for the good of the State and for
the convenience of his creditors. The Princess of Wales was one of
the most unattractive and almost repulsive women for an elegant-minded
man that could well have been found amongst German royalty. It is not
my intention to recall the events of the Regency. It is well known that
the Prince became eventually so unpopular as to exclude himself as much
as possible from public gaze. His intimate companions, after the trial
of Queen Caroline, were Lords Cunningham and Fife, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield,
Sir William Macmahon, Admiral Nagle, Sir A. Barnard, Lords Glenlyon,
Hertford, and Lowther. These gentlemen generally dined with him; the
dinner being the artistic product of that famous gastronomic savant,
Wattiers. The Prince was very fond of listening after dinner to the
gossip of society. When he became George the Fourth, no change took
place in these personnels at the banquet, excepting that with the fruits
and flowers of the table was introduced the beautiful Marchioness of
Conyngham, whose brilliant wit, according to the estimation of his Majesty,
surpassed that of any other of his friends, male or female.


PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES AT A FETE IN THE YEAR 1813, AT CARLTON HOUSE


Carlton House, at the period to which I refer, was a centre for all
the great politicians and wits who were the favorites of the Regent.