s to the actual time when
according to calculations the child was to be born. The King and Queen
were left under the impression that it was a good deal further off than
it really proved to be. The Queen, with all her natural goodness of
heart, was painfully suspicious. She was suspicious sometimes even of
those she loved and trusted; and she hated both the Prince and the
Princess of Wales. She had taken it into her head that the Princess of
Wales was not likely to have a child. She persisted in asserting to
those around her that the princess was not pregnant and never would be.
Naturally when she allowed her mind to be filled with this idea, the
next conclusion for her to jump at was the conviction that a
supposititious infant was about to be palmed off on the Palace and the
{105} country. This idea took full possession of her mind, and she
kept constantly telling those around her that, no matter when or where
the event might take place, she was determined to be in at that birth.
In the most explicit and emphatic way she told people that she would
make sure for herself that no child was imported in a warming-pan this
time.

The King and Queen were now in Hampton Court Palace; the Prince and
Princess of Wales were also living there. Nothing would have been
easier for the Queen than to carry out her purpose if the princess were
allowed to remain in the palace until after her confinement. It was
reported to her that the prince had said he was anxious that his wife
should be confined in London--in St. James's Palace. This the Queen
was determined to prevent if she could. The Princess Caroline fully
shared her mother's belief that the Prince of Wales was quite capable
of palming off a spurious child on the country; and indeed the King
became after a while as well convinced of it as his wife and his
daughter. It was resolved that a message should be sent from the King
to the Prince of Wales, giving a sort of Royal command that the
princess should remain at Hampton Court until after her confinement.
Lord Hervey shook his head at all this. He did not believe in the
warming-pan fantasy; and he felt sure that in any case the Prince of
Wales would contrive to get his wife out of Hampton Court if he wished
to do so. What was to prevent the princess going up to London a little
before her time, and then affecting to fall suddenly ill there, and
declaring that she could not endure the pain and danger of removal?
Lord Her