82. The Queen

Several days later at a concert in St James's Park, I was escorting Helena to where we were to be seated, when a young man in the uniform of a royal page appeared.

He bowed, "Your Grace, the Queen requests your presence."

Though it was phrased as such, it was not the kind of request that one ignores.

Her Majesty was sat surrounded by courtiers in a small enclosure quite close to the stage. As we stood waiting to enter, another page announced "His Grace, Sir William Rogeringham, Duke of Norton."

It was completely unnecessary as Her Majesty had seen me and was indicating I should enter, even as he spoke, but I suppose he had his orders.

The queen wore white, dazzlingly, glitteringly white. To my eyes, her gown seemed to be archaic, out of time for the modern style, but as she was the queen, who was to gain say her?

After I paid her the correct compliments, she indicated a chair which had been placed near to hers. It is usual to stand in the queen's presence but in this case, I was commanded to sit, so I sat. I assumed that it was because she preferred not to draw too much attention to our conversation. I would have been the only one standing while everyone around us was seated - her courtiers, the concert goers outside of her enclosure, everyone.

"Cousin," the queen began. "We trust you are well?"

"I am, thank you, Your Majesty." I replied, by this time, I was done with the 'cousin' thing, if that was what the Queen wanted, then that was how it would be.

"And your mother, Sir William?"

"Very well too, thank you ma'am."

"We are pleased that that is so." She said, "It has come to our attention, that you are much seen lately with the daughter of Elizabeth, Lady Dorrington. Pray tell me, sir, is this true?"

Well, there was a question, and no surprise! I always assumed that the queen had her spies out and about, but I had not thought that Arabella and I would have been subjects for her attention. "It is true, Your Majesty, the young lady and I have often found ourselves thrown together on social occasions. I find Arabella Dorrington the most admirable and entertaining company."

"Lady Dorrington was in Portugal last year?"

"She was, ma'am."

"And were you acquainted with her there?"

"I made the acquaintance of both her and her daughter there, ma'am." There seemed to be no point in lying, Her Majesty appeared to be quite well-informed. The queen seemed to be satisfied with my answers, she nodded as if to herself.

"Forgive our directness, Sir William, but do you have any intentions towards Miss Dorrington?"

It has long been Her Majesty's inclination to over-see matches in society, I suppose that it was now our turn to be reviewed and approved or discouraged.

"As I say, Your Majesty, I find Miss Dorrington to be excellent company and having discussed this with all parties, and though nothing has been formalised - it has been said that our mutual interests might be better served if we engaged in the union of marriage."

"You have discussed it with all parties ... but ourselves, Sir William." The queen observed.

"It was our intention to do so when the moment was appropriate, ma'am."

The queen looked at me with those clear and intelligent eyes, "Perhaps then, this is the appropriate moment. We have given consideration to your situation, after all you are two wealthy families, and as such would make a powerful union. Were we to be assured that our blessing would ensure the support of your family if it was called for in the future, we would gladly bless the union of the Dorrington family with that of the Rogeringhams - if you decide to proceed with your union."

"If we do proceed, Your Majesty, I would hope that our support has never been in doubt, and that it will never be considered to be doubtful." I said, still wondering precisely what this was all about.

"In that case, Sir William, you may announce to all concerned that your union has my blessing."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. May I ask if we could do so when we feel it is appropriate?" The queen nodded her agreement.

"And would this be an appropriate time to mention the weddings of my sisters, Your Majesty? I have several and ..."

Her Majesty looked at me with an amused twinkle in her eyes, she knew that I was throwing the dice on this. "You may arrange matches for your sisters as and how you feel best, Sir William. We trust that your decisions will be the best ones for all of the parties concerned." And as a punctuation, a full-stop to the conversation, the queen picked up her opera glasses and surveyed the stage.

With that the audience was in effect, over. Rising and then bowing to Her Majesty I made my way back to our seats where I told my mother what had just taken place. Helena was quite excited by the news of the queen's blessing, but I sat through the whole performance rehearsing what Her Majesty had said, and why. I would have been hard pressed to tell you whether the concert was good, bad or indifferent, I paid it so little mind. The next thing I was aware of was Helena waiting for me to stand so that I could hold her chair.

When we returned to Rogeringham House, my sisters - who had been at a garden party, had arrived home. Elizabeth and Arabella were also there, they having been at the same event. This was good, as it saved me repeating the news for them.

The news from Her Majesty was received with great delight, not only had I secured the Queen's blessing for Hermione and James, and Caroline and Henry but she had effectively given her permission for the weddings of Charlotte and the twins, if and when they happened. The champagne went round, and there was an air of celebration.

I went down on one knee and in front of her mother, asked Arabella if she would marry me, and she said that she would, but then said that she wanted to wait a while, at least until after Caroline and Henry had married. As she wanted a spring wedding, she asked if I would be prepared to wait until the next year, when we could marry at Rogeringham church.

By this time the only one of my sisters that remained with us in the parlour was Charlotte, along with Helena and Elizabeth. The idea of a spring wedding went down well, though I was surprised that she was prepared to have such a long engagement.

Arabella laughed. If we kept the engagement secret, she said, it meant that we could enjoy the rest of the Season, and create all sorts of intrigue with the gossip rags and yet our future would still be secured.

Her reasoning had been well thought out, as usual, and I agreed with her. Then she and Charlotte went off leaving my mother, my future mother-in-law and myself.

"Do you have many friends in the Parliament, Lady Elizabeth?" I asked.

"I have some," she replied, with a smile. "Why do you ask, Your Grace?"

"Something that Her Majesty said." And I recounted what Queen Charlotte had said about whether she could count on our support.

"That would be the government moving to install the Prince of Wales as the Prince Regent," She said, "It has been discussed before - some years ago, but with the King's ill-health recently, some members of Parliament think it is becoming a necessity again. And of course, if they elevated the Prince, Her Majesty would lose any authority she has."

"God save King George," I murmured, "And preserve us from his half-wit son."

"You do not like His Royal Highness?" Helena asked.

"Not particularly," I said, "But that is of no matter. You are probably right, Lady Elizabeth, but let us not talk about that for now. There are some things that will happen anyway, no matter what our feelings. Let us hope that the King is blessed with better health and talk of more pleasant things." And we spent the evening discussing the union of our two families, now that it was becoming a reality. It was a frank discussion of the situation, almost dispassionate, about issues such as Arabella's dowry and what other things she would bring to the marriage including heirs, and what freedoms we would grant each other. There would be a contract eventually - once we had a clear way ahead, and it would delineate both of our sides of the relationship.