Jean Plaidy - The Princess of Celle

Ernest Augustus insisted on studying the marriage documents with his lawyer.

‘No loopholes mind,’ he cried. ‘His renunciation stands.’

‘There is no intention to evade it, your Highness,’ he was told.

‘Make sure there is none … make doubly sure. My brother has always kept his word, but he was never before devoted to a woman as he is to that one. He’s capable of anything for her sake.’

Sophia joined him. She was of his opinion. Carefully she studied the papers.

‘Well, my dear,’ she confided to Ernest Augustus, ‘I would call this in the language of the lady herself an anti-contract de mariage!’

Ernest Augustus laughed with her. They saw eye to eye over this matter as naturally they should. George William was not going to be allowed to evade his agreement by one line; and George Lewis was destined to be the heir of Brunswick-Lüneberg.

And so the morganatic marriage took place and the married pair continued at Osnabrück.

‘It is as well,’ said George William, ‘to do so for a while. It will stabilize your position.’

Eléonore agreed.

‘Madame von Harburg!’ said Sophia. ‘Well, it is as good a name as any for a woman who, call herself what she will, is still not his wife.’

‘He wants her to have a title and he has an estate of that name,’ pointed out Ernest Augustus.

‘I am aware of that. But it makes no difference to me. She is Mademoiselle d’Olbreuse.’

‘I hope you will not call her by that name. It would cause trouble with George William if you did.’

‘My dear husband, I have no wish to let George William know my true feelings. That would indeed put him on his guard. We have to be careful.’

‘And he is as much in love with her as he ever was.’

‘Give him time to fall out of love!’ said Sophia with a snort of laughter.

‘Sometimes I wonder whether he ever will. He is not the man he once was. I scarcely recognize him as the carefree fellow who used to accompany me on my journeyings.’

‘You’ve both changed,’ Sophia reminded him.

It was true. George William had once been the leader, now he was proving himself a man with a soft and sentimental streak in his nature. Ernest Augustus had changed too. The young man who had adored his brother and was eager to follow him in every way was learning to despise the one-time hero. Ernest Augustus would never love anyone to such an extent that he was ready to sacrifice everything. Sophia suspected that George William would do just that for his Eléonore and, illogically, while she applauded the growing shrewdness of Ernest Augustus, she longed for the devotion of which George William was capable.

When George William presented his wife with a carriage drawn by six horses, Sophia declared that she must take firm action.

‘Why,’ she complained to Ernest Augustus, ‘when she rides out she appears to be finer than we are.’

‘It is George William’s wish.’

‘I can see that, and we shall have to show people that whatever fine jewels she wears, even if she has a carriage drawn by twelve horses she is not royal – nor can we treat her as such.’

When Sophia drove out she never allowed Eléonore to ride in her carriage; and she explained when there were others present: ‘You see, my dear, you are not the Duchess of Celle; and therefore the people would not expect to see you ride with us. I am sure you will understand.’

Eléonore, whose pride was great, was beginning to resent Sophia’s allusions and to wonder whether she was after all the good friend she had once pretended to be. George William was growing more and more devoted as the weeks passed, but he still believed that they should continue at Osnabrück for a while. In fact, when he remembered how antagonistic his subjects had been when he had brought home his Venetian servants, he felt very uneasy as to how they would receive his French wife. It was so much better, he pointed out to Eléonore, that they remain under the protection of Ernest Augustus for as long as possible.

Eléonore yearned to have her own household. She found the manners of this court crude; she could not bear the smell of the food they ate and when the bowls of greasy sausages were served on masses of red cabbage she felt nauseated. She turned from the cloudy ale which they so much enjoyed and as a compromise she had set up a little kitchen in her own apartments where she and Angelique cooked some dainty dishes.

Even so she must appear at meals and as she listened to the champing of jaws and saw the eyes alight with greed and the grease running down the chins of the eaters she turned away in disgust.

Sophia had pointed out to her, most graciously, that they could not sit at the table with herself, Ernest Augustus and George William, for naturally the people would object.

‘You and your little sister will sit at another table. I am sure you will understand.’

Eléonore was inwardly incensed, but she said nothing and agreed to sit at the table indicated.

Sophia had made one special concession. ‘You may remain seated while we eat,’ she had said. ‘The rest of the company must stand and not eat until we have finished. But in view of the great esteem in which we all hold you, we should not expect you to stand.’

Eléonore often wondered afterwards how she endured such slights. George William would watch her unhappily, and she knew that never had he regretted so much his folly in signing away his birthright. She had no wish to make him more unhappy on that score, so she pretended that this treatment did not upset her as much as it did.

Sophia came to her apartment after having eaten sausages and red cabbage to inspect the dishes which Angelique was cooking.

She sniffed with amusement. ‘So that, I suppose, is what you call French cooking.’

‘It is French cooking, Madame,’ answered Eléonore with dignity.

‘And you are going to eat that!’

‘To us it seems as good as greasy sausages do to you.’

‘French tastes!’ laughed Sophia; and ever afterwards when she had finished eating she would nod in Eléonore’s direction and cry: ‘Now, my dear, you may be off to help your little sister with the saucepans.’

Several months passed and the vague slights which were heaped upon Eléonore were bearable only because she was beginning to know her husband better than ever and what she discovered delighted her.

There came the day when she was certain that she was pregnant.

Everything seemed to change for her then. She had accepted insults for herself, but she never would for her child. She had changed; she had not become less proud but far more shrewd and she knew these people were her enemies – and George William’s. They gloated over their triumph. They were determined that she should remain a woman without status, her child illegitimate; and she was going to fight with all her might for the sake of this unborn child.

‘George William,’ she said, ‘our child must not be born here. That would be an evil omen. He must be born under his own roof. I have heard the Castle of Celle is very beautiful. Take me there. Let me be in my own home for these months of waiting.’

George William agreed with her that the time had come to move; in any case his greatest wish was to please her.

So they left Osnabrück for Celle and when she saw the yellow walls of the old castle her spirits rose and as they came into the courtyard and the tame pigeons fluttered round them, Eléonore was happier than she had ever been.

‘I feel,’ she said, ‘that I have come home.’

On a golden September day her child was born.

‘The most beautiful little girl in the world,’ declared George William.

The child was brought to its mother and she examined it eagerly. Perfect in every detail!

‘George William,’ said Eléonore, ‘the bells should be ringing throughout Celle.’

‘I shall order it to be done.’

‘You should bestow gifts on your subjects. Give an entertainment … a ball … a banquet. I want them all to know what a great occasion this is.’

‘We will do it.’

‘I am so happy. I shall lie here thinking how happy I am … and how all Germany must know what an important event this is.’

‘What name have you decided on? I should like her called after you.’

Eléonore smiled. ‘No, that would never do. She must have a German name. I thought of Dorothea after your eldest brother’s wife … and Sophia … because so many in the family are Sophia.’

‘After the Duchess Sophia who was our hostess for so long. It is a graceful gesture.’

‘Yes,’ said Eléonore smiling. ‘She shall be Sophia Dorothea. They are pleasant together. My little Sophia Dorothea who must have the best in life.’

‘Sophia Dorothea,’ repeated George William; and as he agreed with Eléonore in all things he did in this.

‘What a fuss!’ cried Sophia. ‘What a pother … and all for the birth of one little bastard! What are they trying to tell us? That she is not? Ha! They may tell us all they will but that cannot alter facts.’

She rode over to Celle to see the new baby.

A pretty child, she had to admit.

She herself had just had the good fortune to bear a child. ‘A son,’ she told Eléonore proudly. ‘Now you are going to be envious.’

‘No. Now that we have our little daughter we would not change her for any boy.’

An oft repeated protest! thought Sophia grimly. And an absurd one. What ambitious woman would not rather have a son than a daughter! But perhaps if the child was a bastard …

‘My little Maximilian William is a bright little fellow. I’ll swear he already knows me.’

‘I am happy for your sake.’

‘And I for yours, my dear. And the child is to be Sophia Dorothea. A good German name. You were wise in that. In fact, I begin to think you are full of wisdom.’

‘You flatter me.’

‘That is one thing of which I am rarely guilty. It is rather a fault of you French than of us English. You look surprised. But I am English, you know. My mother was an English Princess. It is sad news I have from my friends there. While this child was being born London was being ravaged by fire. It lasted four days they tell me and thirteen thousand houses as well as ninety churches were razed to the ground … and only a year ago they were suffering from the Great Plague.’

‘I had not heard the news.’

‘Why should you? You are not English, but I see that I am well informed of what is happening in my cousin’s country.’

‘I heard it said that the plague was a visitation because of the morals of the King.’

‘Morals of the King!’ said Sophia, her eyes flashing with rage. How dared the woman … this unmarried mother … how dared she have the effrontery to critize a King … and a King of England at that! ‘My dear Madame von Harburg, it is not for lesser folk to judge Kings. A king it seems must have his mistresses – as men will. One does not blame them for a natural custom.’

‘But I thought you would wish to hear what I had heard since you are always pleased to hear of England,’ replied Eléonore quietly.

Conversation was a little strained afterwards, and Sophia very soon took her leave.

She was thoughtful as she rode back to Osnabrück. We shall have to be very careful of that woman, she thought. She could be dangerous. She was always too clever, pretending reluctance in order to make herself more precious. Now she’s a tigress with a cub to fight for. She will fight.

Sophia was right. After she had left Eléonore lay in her bed thinking deeply of what she could to do make her little Sophia Dorothea the equal of her cousins of Osnabrück.

THE PEOPLE OF Celle were content with their Duke and his wife. They had naturally been a little suspicious of the foreigner at first, particularly when she appeared to be somewhat fastidious and so elegant. One glance was enough to show that she did not belong to Celle and they had resented this.

But she did not appear aware of their resentment; when she rode through the town she smiled and acknowledged their greeting in a manner which was strange but which could not fail to charm them; and during the first months of their return the main topic of conversation was the Duke and his Madame, as they called her; it was significant that later they changed that to his Lady.

Even the Frenchwoman’s strongest critics admitted that she had wrought a miraculous change in their Duke. He had ceased to be a feckless wanderer, and appeared to care so much about his little community that he rarely left it; and it was comforting to know the Duke and his family were in residence. It was a reminder of those days when Duke William the Pious had been alive, although nowadays the trumpeter did not announce meals twice a day from the tower, and affairs were conducted very differently in the castle. It was all being Frenchified but, say what one liked, that meant elegance, greater comfort and more courteous manners; and the people of Celle were adjusting themselves very happily to the new régime. Then when the child had been born there had been celebrations in which they had all joined and very soon the Duke’s Lady was riding through the town in her carriage and the little girl was with her; she enjoyed listening to compliments on the child’s health and beauty.