surely becomes thosewhohavethepower to support me in substantiating those just
claims I have for the very extensive losses and privations
I have experienced, during the very long period of
my professional servitude in the Colonies; and if this
is not attainable, itis A clearprooftomethattheyaretheyarenotappreciated; and under that
impression I shall not scruple, in due time,
to resume my retirement abroad, when the Duchess and
myself shall have fulfilled our duties in establishing
the English birth of my child, and giving it
material nutriment on the soil of Old England; and
which we shall certainly repeat, if Providence destines,
to give us any further increase of family.”
In the meantime, he decided to spend the winter at
Sidmouth, “in order,” he told Owen, “that
the Duchess may have the benefit of tepid sea bathing,
and our infant that of sea air, on the fine coast of
Devonshire, during the months of the year that are
so odious in London.” In December the move
was made. With the new year, the Duke remembered
another prophecy. In 1820, a fortune-teller had
told him, two members of the Royal Family would die.
Who would they be? He speculated on the various
possibilities: The King, it was plain, could not
live much longer; and the Duchess of York had been
attacked by a mortal disease. Probably it would
be the King and the Duchess of York; or perhaps the
King and the Duke of York; or the King and the Regent.
He himself was one of the healthiest men in England.
“My brothers,” he declared, “are
not so strong as I am; I have lived a regular life.
I shall outlive them all. The crown will come
to me and my children.” He went out for
a walk, and got his feet wet. On coming home,
he neglected to change his stockings. He caught
cold, inflammation of the lungs set in, and on January
22 he was a dying man. By a curious chance, young
Dr.
Stockmar was staying in the house at the time;
two years before, he had stood by the death-bed of
the Princess Charlotte; and now he was watching the
Duke of Kent in his agony. On Stockmar’s
advice, a will was hastily prepared. The Duke’s
earthly possessions were of a negative character;
but it was important that the guardianship of the unwitting
child, whose fortunes were now so strangely changing,
should be assured to the Duchess. The Duke was
just able to understand the document, and to append
his signature. Having inquired whether his writing
was perfectly clear, he became unconscious, and breathed
his last on the following morning! Six days later
came the fulfilment of the second half of the gipsy’s
prophecy. The long, unhappy, and inglorious life
of George the Third of England was ended.
II
Copyrights
Queen Victoria from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
