Volume II Part 1 (1/2)

The Greville Memoirs

by Charles C F Greville

VOl 2

A JOURNAL of the REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH

CHAPTER XI

Accession of Willias--His Popularity--Funeral of George IV--Dislike of the Duke of cu's Simplicity and Good-nature--Reviews the Guards--The First Court--The King in St Ja dines at Apsley House--The Duke of Gloucester--The Quakers' Address--The Ordinances of July--The French Revolution--Broughale in Paris--Elections Adverse to Governton on the French Revolution--Duke of cue IV's Wardrobe--Fall of the Bourbons--Weakness of the Duke's Ministry--The King at Windsor--The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown of France--Chanac-- The New Parliae IV's Illness and Death--Syland--Dinner in St George's Hall--Lan of 1814--The Conflict in Paris--Dinner at Lord Dudley's

1830

London, July 16th, 1830 {p001}

I returned here on the 6th of this month, and have waited these ten days to look aboutand his proceedings occupy all attention, and nobody thinks anythan if he had been dead fifty years, unless it be to abuse him and to rake up all his vices andWillialect, in eny of bastards, without consideration or friends, and he was ridiculous fro curiosity nobody ever invited hiht it necessary to honour him with any mark of attention or respect; and so he went on for above forty years, till Canning brought hih Adrand Ministerial schis absurd speeches, by a eneral wildness which was thought to indicate incipient insanity, till shortly after Canning's death and the Duke's accession, as is well known, the latter dismissed him He then dropped back into obscurity, but had becoe than he was before His brief administration of the navy, the death of the Duke of York, which ular habits, had procured hireat deal Such was his position when George IV

broke all at once, and after three

July 18th, 1830 {p002}

[Page Head: KING WILLIAM'S ACCESSION]

King George had not been dead three days before everybody discovered that he was no loss, and King Williaretted than the late King, and the breath was hardly out of his body before the press burst forth in full cry against him, and raked up all his vices, follies, and h

The new King began very well Everybody expected he would keep the Ministers in office, but he threw hiest expressions of confidence and esteem He proposed to all the Household, as well as to the members of Government, to keep their places, which they all did except Lord Conyngham and the Duke of Montrose He soon after, however, disht fill their places with thewanted not due praise, and plenty of anecdotes were raked up of his forenerosities and kindnesses His first speech to the Council ell enough given, but his burlesque character began even then to show itself nobody expected frorief, and he does not seem to kno to act it consistently; he spoke of his brother with all the se, and in a tone of voice properly softened and subdued, but just afterwards, when they gave hin the declaration, he said, in his usual tone, 'This is a daue Mr Jaan to swear Privy Councillors in the nareat diversion of the Council

A few days after my return I orn in, all the Ministers and so present His Majesty presided very decently, and looked like a respectable old adhted with him--'If I had been able to deal with ot on much better'--that he was so reasonable and tractable, and that he had done more business with him in ten e Fitzclarence, afterwards Earl of Munster,[1] the same day, and repeated what the Duke said, and he told hted his father ith the Duke, his entire confidence in hi; that he had told his Majesty, when he was at Paris, that Polignac and the Duke of Orleans had both asked hi, would keep the Duke of Wellington as his Minister, and the King said, 'What did you reply?' 'I replied that you certainly would; did not I do right?' 'Certainly, you did quite right'

[1] [Eldest son of King William IV by Mrs Jordan, as shortly after the accession created an earl by his father The rank of 'er children' was conferred upon the rest of the fa had nine natural children by Mrs Jordan: 1, George, a eneral in the army, afterwards Earl of Munster; 2, Frederick, also in the arustus, in holy orders; 5 Sophia, married to Lord de l'Isle; 6, Mary, married to Colonel Fox; 7, Elizabeth, usta, married first to the Hon John Kennedy Erskine, and secondly to Lord John Frederick Gordon; 9, Aan is, to provide for old friends and professional adherents, and he bestowed a pension upon Tierney'sThe great offices of Chaton There never was anything like the enthusiash he has trotted about both town and country for sixty-four years, and nobody ever turned round to look at him, he cannot stir noithout a mob, patrician as well as plebeian, at his heels All the Park congregated round the gate to see him drive into town the day before yesterday But in the ood conduct certain indications of strangeness and oddness peep out which are not a little alar, and he promises to realise the fears of his Ministers that he will do and say too h they flatter theress by re him that his words will be taken as his Ministers', and he 's funeral he behaved with great indecency That cereht, the nificent The attendance was not very nue's Hall a gayer company I never beheld; with the exception of Mount Charles, as deeply affected, they were all aswas chief mourner, and, to my astonishment, as he entered the chapel directly behind the body, in a situation in which he should have been apparently, if not really, absorbed in the , he darted up to Strathaven, as ranged on one side below the Dean's stall, shook hiht and left He had previously gone as chief mourner to sit for an hour at the head of the body as it lay in state, and he walked in procession with his household to the apartment I saw him pass fro to Bushy to kiss hands on being raciously, told him it was the Duke and not hihted to have hiave Jersey the white wand, or rather took one froain with a little speech

When he went to sit in state, Jersey preceded him, and he said when all was ready, 'Go on to the body, Jersey; you will get your dress coat as soon as you can' The more, he went all over the Castle, into every room in the house, which he had never seen before except when he cauest; after which he received an address from the ecclesiastical bodies of Windsor and Eton, and returned an answer quite unpree Head: DISLIKE OF THE DUKE OF cumBERLAND]

He is very ith all his family, particularly the Duke of Sussex, but he dislikes and seems to know the Duke of cu has taken from him the Gold Stick, by means of which he had usurped the functions of all the other colonels of the regiments of the Guards, and put hi He says the Duke's rank is too high to perform those functions, and has put an end to his services He has only put the Gold Sticks on their for, and they are all to take the duty in turn

In the meantime the Duke of cumberland has shown his teeth in another way His horses have hitherto stood in the stables which are appropriated to the Queen, and the other day Lord Errol, her new Master of the Horse, went to her Majesty and asked her where she chose her horses should be; she said, of course, she knew nothing about it, but in the proper place Errol then said the Duke of cuot out without an order fro was spoken to, and he commanded the Duke of Leeds to order them out The Duke of Leeds took the order to the Duke of cuo,' when the Duke of Leeds said that he trusted he would have the day, as unless he did so he should be under the necessity of ordering theed sulkily to give way When the King gave the order to the Duke of Leeds, he sent for Taylor that he ht be present, and said at the same time that he had a very bad opinion of the Duke of cumberland, and he wished he would live out of the country

[Page Head: THE KING'S ODDITIES]