John Douglas had served with distinction as a
Lieutenant of Marines, so much so that he had been knighted and given a pension
of £433 per annum by the crown. After a long courtship, he married Charlotte
Hopkinson, and they settled at Blackheath, where they became friends with
Caroline, Princess of Wales. It was a strange marriage.
 |
| Admiral Sir Sidney Smith |
Douglas had served with
Admiral Sir Sidney Smith at the siege of Acre during the Napoleonic Wars;
Douglas was poor, Smith was rich, Douglas’s military escapades had aged him beyond
his years, Smith was handsome and dashing. Smith sometimes stayed at the
Douglas’s home, putting his carriage and servants at their service, and Lady
Douglas put herself at Smith’s service.
 |
| Sir John Douglas |
When they dined with the Princess of
Wales, Caroline flirted with Smith. She flirted with the society portraitist,
Thomas Lawrence. She flirted with Captain Thomas Manby. She flirted with the
future Prime Minister, George Canning. And when one woman flirts with men,
other women will flirt with rumours. Tongues were tattled. Eyebrows were
raised. Nods were knowing. And then there were the letters.
 |
| Thomas Lawrence |
An anonymous letter
told Caroline that Lady Douglas was not the sort of woman that the Princess of
Wales should sensibly be receiving into her acquaintance. Another letter, said
to be in the Princess’s hand, was received by John Douglas, another anonymous
letter, hinting, nay assuring him, that Lady Douglas and Smith were cuckolding
him. There was also a dirty little drawing with this letter, which made it
graphically clear what Smith and his wife were up to.
 |
| The Duke of Kent |
Caroline did the right
thing. She called in the Duke of Kent, her brother-in-law, who took Smith and
the Douglases to one side and had a discreet word with them. You’d imagine that
such high level intervention by the Establishment would have scotched the
rumour mills, but in late autumn 1805, John Douglas informed the Duke of Sussex
that the Princess was involved in an adulterous relationship and that William
Austin, the child supposedly adopted by Caroline, was the living result of her
infidelity.
 |
| The Duke of Sussex |
Sussex passed on the accusations to his brother, the Prince of
Wales, who in turn passed them on to the King, his father. George III had
always been sympathetic to the plight of his niece, he doted on his
granddaughter, and he knew only too well what his eldest son was like. But
accusations of royal adultery and an illegitimate child could not be ignored.
 |
| Charlotte, Lady Douglas |
A
secret inquiry was made into the claims of the Douglases, made by the four
trusted Lords; Grenville, Ellenborough, Erskine and Spencer. This was known as
the ‘Delicate Investigation’ and the details were later published in the
notorious ‘The Book’. The inquiry began in June 1806, and at its heart
was the testimony of the Douglases.
Lady Douglas told of how she had seen the
pregnant princess on many occasions in 1802, how she had talked about her
pregnancy, saying that she could always blame it on the Prince as she had
stayed for two days at Carlton House, how she enjoyed ‘many’ bedfellows
but liked Sidney Smith the best of them all, and how the Prince of Wales paid
for it all.
There were statements from servants, repeating hints and
allegations, amounting to little more than tittle-tattle and vague impressions.
Depositions from those named were taken, explanations were offered, excuses
made. When the coals had been raked over, the stones lifted to see what dwelt
beneath, the dirty linen scrutinised for tell-tale clues, the Delicate
Investigation made its delicate findings known to the King.
 |
| Charlotte, Lady Douglas |
The Princess of
Wales was entirely innocent of the charges, the child, William Austin, was the
son of a poor local Deptford woman, adopted by the Princess through the
goodness of her heart. But, she was guilty of naivety, of allowing herself to
be in a position where her behaviour could be open to misinterpretation.
Caroline’s reaction proved this. She wrote to the King, asking why the findings
of the Investigation were not to be made public.
If she was guilty, she
expected to be formally charged with her crimes; if she was innocent, why then
were her accusers not being charged and the falsity of their charges being made
known to the public? It was pointed out to her that it was, for the best, a
good idea to let matters lie, not to draw attention to the situation; after
all, some might conclude that there was no smoke without fire.
 |
| Spencer Perceval - The Book - 1813 (1st Ed) |
It was good
counsel, but some in Parliament attempted to use the situation to further their
own political interests, not least Spencer Perceval, who hoped to use the case
to damage the public perception of the Prince of Wales. Under Perceval’s
supervision, the Delicate Investigation and its finding were collected,
proofs carefully printed, corrected and then bound, in great secrecy. Five
thousand copies were stored away, in an unknown place, and publication was
planned, when a turn in the political wind meant that the Grenville
administration was about to resign, with a Tory government almost certain to
replace it.
This made publication of The Book (as political propaganda)
unnecessary, and all copies were destroyed – except for a small number (about
two to six) that escaped the flames. These changed hands for thousands of
pounds, the government officially suppressed The Book, issued
injunctions and attempted to buy up the leaked copies.
 |
| Spencer Perceval - The Book - 1813 (2nd Ed) |
The sun now shone on
Caroline – the King sent one of the Royal Dukes to escort her to the opera,
where she sat in the Royal box. She moved from Blackheath to Kensington Palace,
where royal apartments were provided for her.
Tomorrow – another twist in the
tale.
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