The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Friday 27 January 2006

Upstairs-Downstairs at the Hanovers

Coronations, births, deaths, weddings, executions, deposings, beheadings, hangings, pageantry, jousts, banquets, intrigues and infidelities are all well documented in the histories of the world�s royal families. They all lived upstairs. But have you ever stopped to think about who all lived and worked downstairs and did all the work for these events? Who made the sumptuous gowns, cooked and served the foods, made the silk shirts, forged the weapons and armour, trained the horses and made the intricate liveries? What did they do, and what did they know?

For 123 years the Hanover Georges ruled Britain, and during that century and more so many social changes took place that the ways their different courts functioned and the size of them had to change too.

Just a quick overview history to set this up. King James I (England) and VI (Scotland) had two children, Charles and Elizabeth. Charles succeeded him as Charles I, while Elizabeth married Frederick, Elector of the Palatines. Elizabeth�s daughter Sophia married Ernest Guelph, Elector of Hanover. The Guelphs had three children-Sophia Charlotte, George Lewis and Ernest. Sophia considered herself the legitimate heir to the British throne as granddaughter of James I. So did another Stuart, James Edward (The Old Pretender). Queen Anne was dying, and the closest Protestant heir who would adhere to the conditions of the Act of Settlement had to be hurried over before James Edward�s planned invasion could get up any momentum. Sophia sadly recognized that she was too old at 84 to expect to outlive Anne, so son George was pegged.

Anne died with no surviving heirs in 1714, and shortly thereafter St. James Palace began to be prepared for the arrival and coronation of its new king. The soon to be George I set foot on English soil for the first time accompanied by his two Turkish servants (Mohamet and Mustapha who were technically prisoners of war but soon made themselves useful), his two mismatched mistresses, and a secretary. George spoke no English and never learned. He had also divorced and then imprisoned for life his unfaithful wife, who never saw her children or left Germany again. They had two children, George and Sophia Dorothea. This son and his wife Caroline followed, he to be at the coronation and she to serve as the king�s official consort/hostess. George also took a young English mistress who started issuing orders and knocking down walls. Caroline ordered them back up again. Pity the poor Clerk of the Works-did he obey the future Queen or anger the present King?

Anne�s court had been a hotbed of intrigue as well. Her old companion Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, thoroughly miffed at being turfed-out by conspiracy and a new rival, had stomped off in a fury, but had taken the time to hack off the intricately carved door locks from the royal bedroom doors. This forced Anne into the huge expense of making the Master Sculptor and Carver in Wood produce new ones.

George, called ugly, sly, grossly selfish and a blockhead by those who knew him best, spent most of his time taking long trips back to Hanover to check up on his Electorate. In 1727 on one last trip, and one too huge meal too many, he came to his end. He died in Hanover, bringing to truth the superstition that he would not outlive his divorced queen by a year (she died in 1726), and while his son George II prepared to take his throne, the nature of the Court of St. James prepared to change, and change big.

George had employed six Pages of the Bedchamber, an Underhousekeeper, and Housekeepers for Hampton Court and Kensington (at that time located in a large mudflat, which meant keeping it clean was a daily nightmare). So on the payroll were kept the Laundress, a Keeper of the Standing Wardrobe (ceremonial dress), a Barber, a Sempstress (seamstress), Necessary Woman (personal shopper), Apothecaries to the Person (doctors and druggists), Librarian, Strewer of Herbs (room fresheners), Chocolate-maker (essential), and Writer and Embellisher of Letters (private secretary). There were also the Composer of Music for the Royal Chapel, Court Painter, wigmakers, mole-taker, rat-killer, and the Keeper of the King�s Closet (although with Mustapha and Mohamet around he didn�t have much to do). Most of these positions had been held by the same families, being handed down from son to son, or daughter to daughter, some since the reign of Charles II. And with just one monarch and his son�s caretaker court to manage it hadn�t been beyond the scope of the old ways.

Clothing could have been sewn on site as always, wigs for every occasion made by hand, while the Feather Dresser stuffed pillows and made headdresses. The Chaplains and Gentlemen of the Presence Chamber could handle their duties. But George II and Caroline had six healthy children and each of these in turn was supplied with their own court. St. James expanded accordingly. Nannies, housekeepers, pages, clerks of the Closet, tutors, Women of the Bedchamber, Necessary Women, a Laundress and Sempstress for each palace (St. James, Kensington, Windsor and Hampton Court) the family lived in at different times of the year had to be found, trained, dressed and fed at the King�s expense. Cutbacks had to be made and sacrificed were those of high-ranking people with archaic positions who were paid to do nothing, like in the Jewel House, the Harriers, the Great Wardrobe and the Staghounds. Since most things were now purchased from shopkeepers the germ of the Royal Warrant system began with favoured suppliers arranged.

George had open affairs with several of his wife�s Women of the Bedchamber, as well as keeping his mistress back in Hanover. Caroline was the real power behind the throne and she would have found out anyway. George naturally hated his eldest son Frederick, Prince of Wales. George ordered that when the Princess of Wales had her first child it would be born at Hampton Court. Idiot Frederick decided that it would not. When Augusta went into labour at Hampton Court Frederick ordered her Woman of the Bedchamber and Mistress of the Robes to carry her out to a waiting carriage. Then with six other servants, they all crammed in and bumped and swayed back to St. James, where the Princess gave birth to a daughter. All to thwart his father!

When Caroline found out the next day she hurried off, leaving behind a furious king, and gave the Women a blast for letting this happen. They in turn blasted Frederick, who fault it really was. Eventually they had ten children. Frederick caught a chill while tending to his gardens at Kew, and died in 1751, unlamented by most, particularly George

Caroline died of a rupture without telling anyone she was ill. It had been she and Robert Walpole who had made all the decisions and then told George how wise he had been to think of them. He mourned her for a while, then sent for his Hanover mistress. Walpole decided he could better control George through her than setting up his eldest unmarried daughter Princess Amelia as his consort. It didn�t last long because one morning, while he was ensconced on the �throne� he had some sort of seizure, fell forward, hit his head on a bureau and promptly expired.

Enter his grandson George III. George and his new queen Charlotte (German) had 15 children. Historians have generally not been kind to George. He had a temper, was opinionated, modest, faithful to his wife despite the galaxy of women laying themselves at his feet, a man of peace in a time of war, and was just as dedicated to farming as he was to governing. He was 22 when he came to the throne, and occupied it until his death in 1820, a period of 60 years.

George II had moved into two rooms in St. James after Caroline died, and never let anyone back into her bedroom for 21 years. The place was looking pretty neglected. The new king set about making it livable for his new bride. He had never seen her before she arrived for the wedding, and although he thought her too ugly at first, soon warmed up to her. The palace staff went into high gear. The Yeoman Tailor got busy cleaning tapestries. The Embroideress set to work on a velvet canopy for the bridal bed.

Everybody loved Charlotte, which was a good thing because, like Caroline before her, she ran the show. George had no vices and high principles, had an opinion on everything, and according to the Duke of Wellington was, �the damnedst millstone about the neck of any Government that can be imagined�. This devoted couple were creatures of minimal habits. They ate sparsely so had little need of a large kitchen. They rose at 5am and went to bed at 10pm (which could explain the 15 children Charlotte produced; only two did not survive infancy-a testament to better living conditions in general).

The Court became major domestic and minor glittering. The children had dogs and goldfish. J. S. Bach gave Charlotte harpsichord lessons. St. James was soon too small so George bought Buckingham House, renamed it the Queen�s House, and moved the family into it as their residence, keeping St. James for state occasions only. The people who worked upstairs and downstairs had a big advantage to their employment-they were educated. They could write their own names to sign receipts, keep records and ledgers, count money, make large purchases, and now they are even paying taxes!

George was also determined to keep a tight hold on his family. Disgusted by the dissolute behaviour of his brothers he engineered the Royal Marriages Act, which is still in effect today. It states that no member of the Royal Family can marry before age 25 without the monarch�s consent, and if after they turned 25 the king still did not approve the Privy Council and Parliament had to be advised one year before any wedding could happen.

The parents put their children on a strict regimen as they grew from babyhood. With the girls Charlotte saw that they rose at 6 a.m., took a bath, then oversaw their lessons, chose their clothing and in all ways impressed the governess. The boys however were handled much differently. George was a strict taskmaster and he divided his sons up into different houses with their own governors and tutors. The eldest son George and next brother the Duke of York lived together at Dutch House on the Kew grounds. It was George�s decision that his children were there to learn, obey God�s word, and nothing else. Failure to do so meant swift and severe corporal punishment. This treatment did not endear the boys to their parents, particularly their father. And in the Prince of Wales� case it, sent him in exactly the opposite direction from which his father had hoped to guide him away.

The people needed to manage all this grew proportionately. Enter the new posts of Nursery Governess, Wet-nurse and Midwife. There was also Madame Nurse (whose job was lifting the Prince of Wales out of his satin-bedecked State Cradle and holding him on her plump lap to comfort him, as she would for each of his siblings as they took their place in the bed on the gilt rockers. The number of houses increased too: Kew Palace, White Lodge, Queen�s Lodge, Cumberland Lodge, King�s Cottage, were all spread on the grounds around Kew and Windsor. Charlotte spent so much time pregnant that she became a dedicated reader, supplied by a Page who picked books up at the stalls for her.

She also changed the way her personal needs were taken care of. To wake her in the morning, brush her hair and get her into her underwear were two Wardrobe Women, two old German ladies she was very fond of. After she was fully dressed with jewelry and fan, she would go out to be joined by the Ladies of the Bedchamber if heading to an official occasion.

While the general population still used chamberpots and outdoor privies, Charlotte had a �Mahogony Bookcase� built, which had a door on one side that opened to access her private water closet. Every night before they hit the sheets her Necessary Woman would warm the bed with a warming pan, placed firewood nearby so set a fire in the morning and a lamp lit to burn the night through. The King rose before 5 am and lit the fire himself, then back to bed until the clock struck 5. The Queen rose at 7 a.m. and they had breakfast together at 8 a.m. They had just one cup of tea each, brought in by a separate Page.

Not getting it from his parents the Prince of Wales was looking for love in all the wrong places. At least the boys kept mistresses. His sisters had a horrible time finding potential suitors that fitted in with the Act of Settlement and the Royal Marriages Act. The Princess Royal�s and Princess Elizabeth�s marriages went ahead despite grudging approval from the King. Their sisters fell for much older men employed in the Royal Household. Amelia fell in love with a middle-aged general and imagined herself married to him. She never got her brother�s approval but then died of consumption anyway. Mary married the Duke of Gloucester and despite the nasty way he treated her remained devoted to him until his death. Queen Victoria remembered her as �dear Aunt Gloucester�. Throughout it all the children of George III stuck together.

As George III sank further into the depths of his disease it was his Pages and Equerry who had to physically restrain him from hurting himself and others. The household was terrified and Charlotte�s Second Wardrobe Keeper resigned. Her Woman took to sleeping in her room, which was now separate from her husband as they had relocated to Windsor. His doctors couldn�t find any way to calm his outbursts or explain his delusions. Seeing his advantage Prinny (his friends� nickname for the Prince of Wales) sent his own social-climbing quack physician to attend the king. This Doctor Warren declared the king incurably mad, and from that time the Prince took over the government while his mother and sisters spent their days in two rooms, fading from grief.

In 1809 the south wing of St. James burned down, taking with it more irreplaceable treasures. The buildings of the Tudor range were gone, covering up forever the site of the attempted murder of the king�s fifth son, Ernest, Duke of Cumberland. Once night after he had come home late and got to bed about 2:30a.m. Ernest was woken by blows of a sabre to his head. He fought with the unseen assailant, who ran off. The Sergeant of the Guard and his men finally tracked down the perpetrator, an Italian Valet named Seillis, to his room, only to find he had committed suicide. Why had a favourite of the Duke, in his employ for ten years and leaving a wife and four children, done this? For a few days prior to this he had been around when not on duty and seen in rooms he had no business being in.

The evidence suggested that Seillis had used the Duke�s own regimental sabre and slashed down through the bedcurtains, which had saved Ernest�s life. The Jury, who was taken to observe the rooms, and after examining all the evidence, finally deduced that the attack was in revenge. There was a rivalry between Seillis and another Valet named Neale, and the unwitting Duke had taken Neale�s side!

Cumberland had a bad public reputation, and had been particularly harshly treated in his upbringing. Nobody seemed too sympathetic to him. Because of this Prinny and his brothers had little sympathy for the plight of their father, and this brought about a rift with their mother. It must have been hard days for those who worked so closely with the principles, protecting their charges and themselves from the wrath and intrigues of a Prince who increasingly demanded his Regency.

As Charlotte�s health began to fail so did the little ways she showed her people how much she cared for them. It was she and not Queen Victoria who first brought in Christmas trees, and these were no longer in the staff rooms. Her Necessary Woman of 53 years died. Charlotte herself died in 1818, and the King two years later. In those 60 years not only had their outwardly charmed life turned to sheer misery but for those intimately around them the glory days faded and died out too.

George IV was the opposite of his father. He was a collector-of locks of different women�s hair. He kept everything. He hoarded money. He was all heart according to his sister Elizabeth. He was a combination of wit and wisdom and libertine gambler. He was a prodigious collector of art and loved music. He was a womanizer who hated his wife Charlotte, but was more or less faithful to his secret wife Maria Fitzherbert. While Regent he lived in Carlton House. Because food was a priority he installed kitchens, larders, a wine cellar, footman�s hall and confectionery among others. Upstairs his Pages were on duty at all times. He would order one to bring him some water even though there was a carafe of it right beside his bed. He may have been hard to work for, but he did throw great parties.

His Table-Decker took great pride in coming up with decorations for banquets seating 2000 guests. George�s mistresses tended toward the matronly type. His Queen and his Mistress did not attend these events. At Brighton he had �bather� who dipped him in the sea. Everything was purchased from shopkeepers who supplied everything from gold lace, to boots, to snuff, to liveries to combs. Gone are the Pages of the Kings Bedchamber, who became Pages of the Backstair, but did the same work. Two State Pages and six Pages of the Presence all operated on a strict hierarchy. As their occupiers died off or retired archaic positions like Apothecary to the Person, Housekeeper at Westminster, Laundress to the Body, Necessary Woman, Sempstress and Master of the Tennis Court were all abolished.

The ever-broke George had been bribed into marrying Caroline of Brunswick. They were none too fond of each other, but produced one daughter, another Charlotte. Caroline took off for the continent, leaving her daughter to be brought up by George. In 1820, he became King George IV, and she immediately rushed back to take her place as queen. George initiated divorce proceedings against her, but after weeks of mutual evidence of infidelity, most on his part, George quietly dropped the matter.

When the rejected Caroline disappeared into history George set about raising his daughter, personally choosing those closest to her. When she grew up she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. She and the child died at its birth. So with four of George III�s daughters unmarried and living with mom, his other sons happy with their respective mistresses and not in any hurry to marry, it appeared that there would be no legitimate heir to the throne. Things had been pretty boring around there, except for the divorce trial, but soon things picked up as his royal brothers, seeing the throne as the prize, set about racing each other to see who would marry and produce an heir first.

The downstairs crew must have watched with secret glee as the Dukes of York, Clarence, and Cambridge all tossed over their mistresses and their children by them, to marry continental Princesses. None of the children from these unions lived past infancy. The only saving grace to this farce was the Duke of Kent�s choice to pension off his Madame St. Laurent and marry Princess Victoria, a widow who had children with her late husband. From that marriage was born a little princess on May 24, 1819. They named her Victoria.

George had made a triumphant trip to Scotland in 1822, and Sir Walter Scott had enjoyed every exhausting moment of it. They both had to live in their memories because George had grown so fat and redolent that by the time of his death in 1830, he had become a recluse. Times were again changing. The days of Beau Brummel dictating men�s fashion were waning. He seldom went near his pleasure palace at Brighton, which had consumed so much of his time, attention and money during his Regency and in which he had lived after his daughter died. He died on June 26, ridden with gout and heart disease. His last words, heard only by the loyal Page whose shoulder his head had fallen on were, �This is death!�

He was buried wearing a diamond locket containing a miniature of Mrs. Fitzherbert around his neck. He hadn�t been too popular while alive but the public sure enjoyed his funeral. Back at St. James the regular downstairs crew heaved a sigh, rolled up their sleeves and got ready to serve King William IV.

Although some would go, most would stay. They were, and still are, keepers of the secrets of the centuries. Without the downstairs the upstairs would collapse in a heap. Good help is not easy to find, and as every George, Henry, William and Elizabeth knows, once you find it, honour it. After all even 15-year-old Edward VI kept his old nurse and Will Somers, Henry VIII�s favourite Jester and gifted adviser, well pensioned at Hampton Court. Somers kept the dying young king laughing and happy at his last Christmas. He too knew that if you can�t trust your Jester who can you trust?

Anon and be careful on the stairs!

- The Court Jester