HMS Diamond Read Online Free Page B

reading:
           His Royal Highness
    His Royal Highness
    George the Third
    By the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom
    of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith.
    Requests your presence at the investiture of
     
    William Sidney Smith
     
    as
    Knight Commander and Grand Cross
    of the Royal Swedish
    Order of the Sword
    at
    St. James Palace
    on
    Wednesday, May 16th, 1792
     
           "Oh my God," she said slowly to herself.
     
    ***
     
           Henry VIII had constructed the building in 1530 on the site of a leper hospital. Because the hospital was named after St. James the Less, the building was named after him as well. It was called St. James Palace, but few buildings looked less like a palace than this one, especially on the outside.
           It stood on the north side of a huge rectangular park known as The Mall and was actually a series of interlocking buildings and courts. The primary entrance, however, was off of St. James Street, through a large gatehouse with two imposing seven-story high spires on the gatehouse corners.
           Walker’s coach had pulled up as close as he could to the entrance, but even that put him a hundred yards or more away. Something big was up; and the people knew it. There was rumor that perhaps the king and queen might even make a public appearance and that was all that was needed to bring out the crowds and, with the crowds, a festive atmosphere.
           Vendors had set up stalls to hawk their wares and the smell of delicious baked and cooked tidbits filled the air. Children and dogs were scampering about while adults jockeyed to get the best position to see who was coming and going. Closest to the massive oak doors of the entrance, however, were the poor and this was a sobering sight.
           In 18th century England, there was no such thing as a social safety net. To be poor meant you begged, stole or prostituted yourself, or you died. The crowd near the door reflected that reality. There were women in rags clutching dirty children and men missing arms or legs still wearing tattered military uniforms. There were the blind, the crippled, the halt, the lame, the diseased and the despised. All were united in desperation and in the hope that the kindness of strangers might allow them to live another few days.
           Walker passed them by. He didn’t feel good about that, but what else could he do? Handing out the few pounds in his pocket was a drop in the ocean of need that lay before him. He arrived at the open gateway and presented his invitation to one of the court pages that were lined up there. With a courteous bow, the young man led him onto the palace grounds.
           The gatehouse, it turns out, opened on to a small square courtyard with a piazza on the west end. The page, a lad not more than 12 years old, hurried Walker over to the piazza and up a grand marble staircase. At the top of the staircase were two rooms. The page pointed out the one on the left as being the queen’s guardroom and, on the right, the king’s guardroom.
           They turned right and entered a large rectangular room. On the right was a row of tall windows with purple velvet curtains on them. Adorning the other three walls, however, were a series of intricate designs made from scores of swords, pikes, axes and muskets placed in various ingenious patterns. Walker’s head was on a swivel trying to take it all in as the page burrowed onward through the palace.
           They sped through the guardroom, into the Presence Chamber and emerged into the Privy Chamber. At this point, the page became unsure and went over to confer with an older page as to where his charge was to be deposited. Walker welcomed the break as a chance to catch his breath and look around.
           What he saw was a room festooned with priceless paintings, gold candelabra and magnificent crystal chandeliers. One whole wall consisted of a series of fifteen-foot