Chapter 18: Tewkesbury Abbey

“How far away would you judge the Abbey to be from us?” I said.
Captain Hutton took a moment estimating the distance before replying.

“I think somewhere near a furlong, no more than two hundred and fifty yards at the most.”

The Royal Progress had reached the ancient city of Tewkesbury, and acting on plans drawn up after the affair at Birmingham, all Loyal Addresses were now given in surroundings more secure than the middle of a crowded city. Hutton and I were in the spacious grounds surrounding Tewkesbury Abbey, standing on the platform where the Royal Party would be seated during the Loyal Address given by the Mayor of Tewkesbury.

“That is the distance I estimate.” I pointed to the massive tower of the Abbey. “A rifleman posted at one of those windows in the tower would be sure to hit anyone on this platform.”

“We could move the dais further back, Colonel.”
“There’s a small beck about ten yards behind the dais that makes the surrounding area extremely boggy, besides which it will take too long to dismantle, shift, and then reassemble the platform. The Royal Party will be arriving within the next two hours. Have a dozen of your men thoroughly search the Abbey for concealed persons, and then set a corporal’s guard at all entrances. That should foil any attempt by a marksman of accomplishing his task.”
Hutton saluted and rode away, and I reflected on the events of the past week.

The first Address held under the new procedure was given in the grounds of Rougemont Manor, the home of Lord Reece-Mogg, Earl of Rougemont, situated a few miles southwest of the city of Worcester. It was the obvious choice. The Royal Party were in residence for several days, the grounds were fully enclosed, and patrolled by Hutton’s troop of the 4th Light Dragoons. Captain Botham’s troop guarded the manor, with Botham acting as the Duchesses of Kent’s bodyguard. By all accounts, Captain Botham – known to his many lady friends as ‘Beefy’ – took the duty literally, much to the delight of the Duchess.

After events in Birmingham, where Princess Alexandrina, my two daughters as her attendants, and the Duchess of Kent, were the only people seated on the platform Her Royal Highness (HRH) the Duchess of Kent had ordered an increase of the numbers of persons positioned on the dais. Whether HRH imagined more people on the dais meant less danger to her or Princess Alexandrina I could not say, but at the next Loyal Address, held at Rougemont Manor, there were several more persons on stage.
The Duchess had decided that she also would be flanked by ‘Ladies–in–Waiting’’ although she was too low down the pecking order of the Royal Family to be officially entitled to a retinue.
Nevertheless, she commanded Baroness Louise Lehzen, Princess Alexandrina’s governess, to be one of her attendants, and requested that Mimi be the other. Mimi was only too pleased to be with her daughters in such circumstances.

HRH held centre stage, literally as well as figuratively, during the Loyal Address held at Rougemont Manor. She was flanked by her two Ladies in Waiting, although both were positioned slightly to her rear, while behind her throne-like chair stood Captain Botham. On HRH’s right sat Princess Alexandria, likewise flanked by my daughters, who also were slightly to the rear of the Royal personage. To the right of Princess Alexandrina sat the Bishop of Worcester, the Right Reverend Robert James Carr. On HRH’s left sat the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Worcestershire, Sir Edwin Sumner, and alongside him our host, Lord Rougemont. Much to his chagrin Sir John Conroy was assigned a standing role on the far left of the dais. Hopefully a bear would pursue him when he exited.
I did not merit a place on the platform, but kept a watchful eye on any suspicious looking person, and on my men, from behind and at the sides of the structure.

The occasion at Rougemont Manor went well. The Mayor gave the Loyal Address from a lectern at the foot of the dais. His wife the Lady Mayoress, and the city’s Aldermen, were seated on uncomfortable benches behind him, which was probably the reason his Address was the shortest given thus far.
I made a mental note to use the same device for curtailing speeches for the rest of the Royal Progress. The choir of Worcester Cathedral, accompanied by the town band, sang the Coronation anthem, ‘Zadok the Priest’. There were no Petitioners, raucous crowds, or fire-eating Yeomanry, and HRH, with Beefy Botham tending to her needs, was in a mellow, fully satisfied, mood.

The platform used in Birmingham had been reassembled at Rougemont Manor. After the Loyal Address had concluded and the important visitors returned to Worcester, the platform was dismantled and dispatched to Tewkesbury for reassembly in the Abbey grounds, accompanied by Cornet Cowdray and a dozen troopers. The Royal Party remained overnight at Rougemont Manor, but were on the road to the next venue by 11 a.m. Hutton’s troop, with me at their head, had left at 8 a. m.

I was surprised when Humphrey Appleby rode up alongside me some hours after leaving Rougemont Manor.

“I hope you will not mind if I ride alongside you Sir Elijah? I was stuck in a coach with Sir John Conroy, and longed for some fresh, rather than merely hot, air. “
I nodded my acceptance, and for the next twenty minutes we rode in a companionable silence.
Truth to tell I was surprised by his horsemanship. I took him to be a desk bound scribe, but he rode with the easy assurance of an experienced and accomplished rider, so different from my rather functional riding style.
I had overheard Lieutenant Graveny make the rather disparaging remark to Cornet Cowdray, ‘the Colonel rides like a drunken farmer’, which I suppose was an accurate, if rather unkind and insubordinate, a description of my riding style.

“So what do you think our errant Prussian Hussar will do next, Sir Elijah?”
He had marked my preoccupied expression, and deduced where my thought might lay,

“He knows our route, and will be lying in wait somewhere, ready to assassinate the Princess. He might not know the location where the Loyal Addresses are to be given but does knows at which Great House the Royal Party will spend the night.”
A few minutes passed in silence.

“Actually, Sir Elijah, the death of Alexandrina, although to be greatly deplored, would not give any supposed claimant grounds to seize a vacant throne. Princess Alexandrina may be the Heir Apparent, but there are other persons in the succession, and should she perish there would be others to take her place.”
I swung around in my saddle and stared at him in astonishment.

“I was led to believe preserving the life of the Princess was paramount.”

“So it is, so it is. She is a charming young girl, who I expect will make a first rate Queen, but she is not the last of the Hanoverian succession.”

“Yes I know. There is the Duke of Cumberland’s son George, followed by the Duke of Cambridge’s son, also George.”
Appleby looked surprised. “I am impressed with your knowledge of the succession, Sir Elijah. Yes, the two Georges, known as big George and little George, are in line for the throne, and Alexandrina’s death would give the succession to big George. However, as far as the population of Britain are aware, barring accidents, Alexandrina will be their next ruler. What Captain Erzählenmann was intending in Birmingham was more complex than an assassination. The riot he hoped would ensue after the Yeomanry had acted upon his false information was to cause such a furore he would be able to abduct the Princess.”

“But I had men protecting her.”
Appleby smiled. “His plan was audacious but quite feasible. When the riot erupted you would have called for coaches to spirit the Royal Party away from the area. Captain Erzählenmann would have appeared at your elbow with a reasonable explanation why he had been absent. He is a man whom you trusted...”

“Until I learned of him urging the Yeomanry to attack a peaceful gathering. Any trust I had in him vanished that instant.”
“Yes of course, but had the plan been carried out as he intended Major Aster would not have had the confrontation with Colonel Cross, and neither you nor Cross would have been aware of Captain Erzählenmann’s duplicity. Aster should have entered the church grounds from the north, and then driven the gathering crowd towards the line of Colonel Cross’s men. Eventually the line would have broken, but not before accounting for many civilian and military causalities. The enraged mob would then have rushed towards the dais, You would have grasped at the offer of Captain Erzählenmann to escort their Royal Highnesses to safety, while you and your men sacrificed themselves to allow time for the Royal Party to escape. There would also have been the thought in the back of your mind that a diplomatic incident would ensue if a Prussian Hussar officer, attached to the Fourth Light Dragoons, was killed or injured in the riot. Getting him and the Royal Party away was killing two birds with one stone, to use a quite impropriate saying.”

I saw the logic in his argument. “Well, I must admit that until Aster blew the gaff I trusted Wilhelm implicitly.”

“You have no reason to castigate yourself, Sir Elijah. He had worked assiduously to gain your trust. It was his advice that had you securing those sewer covers in Leamington Spa.”

“If Wilhelm did not intend killing Princess Alexandrina why did he organise a riot?”

“Once the Royal Party was away from the area he would have detached the Princess from the rest of the party – remember he was a favourite of the duchess, and has a honeyed tongue – he would then have carried the Princess off to Russia to be swiftly married to Prince Igor...”

“Married! She is but a child...”

“I am not suggesting Prince Igor would have consummated the marriage immediately after the ceremony.” He paused. “Although Igor does have a penchant for young girls, in fact a penchant for females of all ages.”
“But why marry her? How does he benefit?”

Appleby explained in a tone of voice one would use to a dim-witted farm boy, which no doubt he thought me.

“Princess Alexandrina would be the Heir Apparent even if married to Prince Igor. When our current King goes to his just reward she will be proclaimed Queen. She would then return to England accompanied by her husband. By this time she might have converted to his religion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity – there is nothing in the Act of Settlement about a Russian Orthodox ruler.”

“But surely the marriage would be annulled if the poor girl was forced to marry?”