The Princess of Celle: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free

They want to see the heir.’
    George William shrugged his shoulders. He was resigned. He thought of his father who had drawn the shortest stick with a reluctance which now matched his own. Perhaps it would be possible to follow his example, for he had not been completely confined to Celle even after his marriage. Yet he had been a good Duke, combining pleasure and duty. And he had given his people what they asked – four sons.
    Perhaps it was not so depressing as he had once thought; and he was certain that if John Frederick took his place, he would very quickly find some opportunity to denude his brothers of their estates and fortunes. There was a look of ambition in the eyes of John Frederick which George William did not like.
    Very well, he was the second son; he would do his duty.
    ‘Well, brother,’ he said to Ernest Augustus. ‘There is no help for it and no reason for delay. Let our good people see that they can rely on us.’
    Within a short time of their return from Venice the two brothers were preparing to leave for Heidelberg.
    The Princess Sophia was elated at the prospect of receiving her suitor. She remembered him well for she had seen him years ago when he had first come to Heidelberg with his young brother – an exceedingly handsome boy, with the manners of a courtier; he had danced with her and she had flirted with both boys. She suspected that this was an occupation in which they indulged as naturally as breathing. George William had played the guitar to her which he did most charmingly; and while he was in her company had made her believe that he enjoyed it more than that of any other person.
    But she was too shrewd nowadays to believe that – although at the time she had been willing enough to delude herself. Well, now she was to marry him – and it was time too that they both married. She was not displeased with her prospective bridegroom – although being an extremely ambitious woman she had had hopes of a more advantageous marriage.
    What joy, though, to escape from Heidelberg! It was not very pleasant being tolerated at her brother’s court as the poor sister who was not particularly well endowed with personal attractions, and every year taking a few steps farther away from marriageability.
    In her youth she had been tolerably handsome; but this had been completely overshadowed by the beauty of her mother. Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia – until her husband Frederick had been deprived of his throne – had become known as the Queen of Hearts, so charming was she, and compared with such a mother the mildly handsome looks of her daughter Sophia had been insignificant. Moreover, she had been poor from birth, for the family’s fortunes had been already in decline when she arrived in the world. Therefore with little to recommend her but her birth she became excessively proud of that.
    Although she did not see her mother frequently – Sophia declared that Queen Elizabeth preferred her dogs and monkeys to her children – it was she who dominated the household. Her personality was such that she must attract and, however resentful Sophia felt, she must admire. It had not been much fun, moving about Europe enjoying hospitality wherever it was possible to beg it, yet Queen Elizabeth did so with grace and great charm; she even gave banquets – although this always meant the sacrifice of some precious jewels; the courtiers about them were mostly rats and mice, Sophia had grimly commented, to which of course could be added the creditors. And through her troubles Elizabeth moved, serene, admired, adored – the Queen of Hearts.
    She never forgot that she was an English Princess. Although, Sophia pointed out – and had her ears boxed for her impertinence – her mother was the Danish Princess Anne and her father, King James I of England and VI of Scotland, more Scots than English.
    But England was the country enshrined in her mother’s heart. In England she had been an honoured princess; in Bohemia she