(@ CYNTHIA CAMPBELL — CONSULTANT LECTURER AND FORMER HEAD OF PUBLIC SERVICES
A T THE ROYAL PAVILION
31 MONTPELIER CRESCENT, BRIGHTON, BN1 3IL TELEPHONE: (0273) 202323

Mr R. Franklin
Vice-Chairman

Bridge Parish Council
20 Windmill Close
Bridge

Canterbury CT4 SLY

Dear Mr Franklin,

Your letter to the Public Services Section of the

Pavilion has been passed on to me, and I shall be happy to tell
connection
with George IV. I am, of course, not certain how much detail
forgive me if I repeat facts that you
are already familiar with, or come up with too much scandal and

xi you anything I can about the Conyngham family's

you want, so you must

gossip.
Elizabeth, Marchioness of Conyngham was born about
(d.l86l), the daughter of Joseph Denison, a city banker from

a modest Yorkshire family, who became extremely rich. She

already been married for over twenty five years to Henry,
two sons, Lord Mount Charles and
and two daughters, Lady Elizabeth abd Lady
when the Prince Regent became infatuated with her,
though they met have

Marquess Conyngham, and had
Lord Francis,
Maria,
shortly before he became king in l820,
known each other slightly since 1805.

Madame De Lieven, the wife of the Russian Ambassador,

letters to Prince Metternich, the Austrian Chancellor,
great source of the many slightly scandalous stories about the
\~ relationship between the King and Lady Conyngham. So too are
the memoirs of John Wilson Croker, Charles Greville, and Lady
Harriet Granville. My quotations are taken from them.
reason that I have these quotations to hand. is that I have
recently finished, though not yet published, a book, "The Most
which deals with George IV and the women

Polished Gentleman",
in his life.

Lady Conyngham was said to be fat, handsome,

version is;

Greville also told his version;

kindly,
shrewd, and extremely fond of jewels. One story, repeated
two different observers, illustrates this fondness. ”Croker's
"A curious story going about that the King gave
Princess Charlotte a remarkably fine sapphire on her marriage,
and that after her death he asked it back as being a royal
jewel, that Prince Leopold returned it reluctantly, but that,
lo! Lady Darnley has recognised it on Lady Conyngham's neck."
"...... Lady C. had on her
head a saphire which belonged to the Stuarts, and was given by
the Cardinal of York (Henry Stuart, grandson of James II) to
the King. He gave it to the Ps. Charlotte and when she died he


desired to have it back,...... this crown jewel sparkled in the
headdress of the Marchioness at the ball."

A rhyme suggesting that they spent their time

"Quaffing their claret, then mingling their lips,
Or tickling the fat about each other's hips"

seems to have caught the atmosphere of their relationship.

There was certainly no shortage of mutual fat, so that she and
the King together were referred to as ‘their Obeseties'.

It is very possible that, like her predecessor Lady Hertford,
Lady Conyngham was a ‘favourite’ rather than a 'mistress', as
there was a distinct family atmosphere about their
relationship, and Lord Conyngham seems to have had no objection
when his wife and the King spent their evenings "sitting on a
sofa together, holding each other's hands, whispering and

kissing." George IV certainly adored her, and she had a
great influence on him, which could sometimes cause problems;
if she did not wish to do something, he would not do it

either. Lady Conyngham and Lady Londonderry, whose husband was
the Foreign Secretary, disliked each other intensely; Madame de
Lieven described some of the convolutions of this dislike;
"..... the King is to give a large dinner-party for the Prince
and Princess of Denmark. When making out the list, he included
Lord and Lady Londonderry. Lady Conyngham declared that if the
latter was at dinner, she would not come. The King on his side,
declared that, if she did not come, he would not give a dinner
for the Princess. Lady Conyngham persisted. Finally, he agreed
to invite neither Lord nor Lady Londonderry; but at the end of
the arguement he persuaded Lady C. to ask me to arbitrate
between them.....It was a long battle, but I "won, and now,
thank Heaven, a quarrel of two years’ standing is ended, at any
rate as far as appearences go. I can think of no more difficult
job than getting round a woman's vanity, when one can appeal
neither to her reason nor to her decent feelings." Londonderry
was very upset, and did not forgive Lady Conyngham.

But her influence could also be for the good. Harriet
Granville, who had seen the King at the theatre shortly
after the tremendous scandal of the Bill of Pains and
Penalties, - the so-called ‘Trial of Queen Caroline’, when his_
popularity was a a very 1ow~ebb, -” wrote to her sister, Laay”
Morpeth; "I heard the other day that the King is more in love
with your friend Lady C(onyngham) than ever, and that he sits
kissing her hand with a look of the most devoted submission. I
suppose she persuaded him to go to the play. It is very wise
and answered perfectly".

The King visited the Conynghams at Slane Castle in Ireland, on

his first visit outside England, - in fact the first to
Ireland of any Hanoverian king. And the Conyngham family spent

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a great deal of time in Brighton, where Greville frequently
saw them; "Lady C. lives in one of the houses in Marlbro'
Row. All the members of her family are continually there, and
are supplied with horse, carriages, etc., from the King's
stables. She rides out with her daughter, but never with the
King, who always rides with one of his gentlemen. They never
appear in publick together. She dines there (at the Pavilion)
every day; before the King comes into the room she and Lady
Elizabeth join him in another room, and he always walks in with
one on each arm. She comports herself entirely as Mistress of
the House, but never suffers her daughter to leave her. She has
received magnificent presents; Lady Eliz. the same;
particularly the mother has strings of pearls of enormous
value. Madame de Lieven said she had seen the pearls of the
Grand Duchesses and the Russian Princesses, but had never seen
any nearly so fine as Lady C.'s. The other night Lady Bath was
coming to the Pavilion. After dinner Lady C. called to Sir Wm.
Keppel and said, ‘Sir Wm., do desire them to light up the
Saloon‘ [this Saloon is lit by hundreds of candles]. When the
King came in she said to him, ‘Sir, I told them to light the
Saloon, as Lady Bath is coming this evening.’ The King seized
her arm and said ‘with the greatest tenderness, ‘Thank you,
thank you, My Dear; you always do what is right; you cannot
please me so much as by doing everything you please, everything
to show that you are Mistress here.‘ Madame de L. was sitting
by her when this scene took place and repeated it to Ly.
Harrowby who told it to me." And on another occasion; "the
King was gazing at Lady Conyngham with an expression in which
somnolence battled against love; Lady Conyngham was gazing at a
beautiful emerald on her arm; her daughter was toying with a
ruby hanging round her neck;...."

Lady Harriet Granville spent Christmas 1823 at the Pavilion,
and wrote of it to her brother; ".... I went after it
(Divine service) to Lady Conyngham, and saw her Christmas
gifts, which made my mouth water, and made me almost wish for a
situation. A magnificent cross, siezed from the expiring body
of a murdered bishop in the island of Scio. An almanack, gold
with flowers embossed on it of precious stones. A gold melon,
which being touched by a spring falls into compartments like
the quarters of an orange, each containing different perfumes.
I returned like Alladdin after the cave, only empty-handed,
which, I believe, he was not."

Madame de Lieven continued to find the whole affair ridiculous;

"...The King has seen nobody.” Love which allows nothing to

interfere with it is all very fine; but how extraordinary when
its object is Lady Conyngham! Not an idea in her head; not a
word to say for herself; nothing but a hand to accept pearls
and diamonds with, and an enormous balcony to wear them
on...... The favourite does nothing but yawn; the King is in a
frightful state of melancholy". Observers felt that magnificent
jewels were the Conyngham Ladies‘ only interest, but the
King obviously enjoyed sitting by her playing at patience the


whole evening. De Lieven noted that he sometimes seemed to
be bored with his 'inamorata', particularly as neither she not
her daughter shared his love of music. When the King gave a
musical evening, never leaving the piano, "Lady Conyngham
and Lady Elizabeth did not conceal their dissatisfaction at all
this music. .....P ‘ ' "“ ‘ '

The King took a great interest in the affairs of the whole
Conyngham family, and it seems that it was the domestic
atmosphere that was one of the main attractions for him. His
attentions to the elder daughter, Elizabeth, were very marked,
and some thought that he was as much in love with her as with
her mother, even suggesting that he was going to marry her,
though she finally married the Earl of Huntley. He also
wrote many fatherly and effusively sentimental letters to the
younger daughter, Lady Maria; "My dearest Maria, As a proof
that I have not forgotten You, that I never could forget You, I
now send You dear Child, a little trifle by way of a keepsake;
may it be the means of affording You, be it only, half the
pleasure it does me, in offering it to You, & I shall be amply
rewarded & gratified. That when you arrive at her years, You
may as exactly as possible, resemble, your dear and perfect
Sister, my dearest Elizabeth, is, the best wish my Heart can
frame for you (and) at the same time be the best proof to You,
my dearest Child, of the never ceasing regard and Love, of Your
ever affectionate....."

Apart from an occasional escape into music, the King
concentrated on pleasing the favourite in every way
possible. He wished to appoint Lord Conyngham as Lord

Chamberlain, but Lord Liverpool (the Prime Minister)
objected, and suggested that Conyngham should become Groom of
the Stole, a rather low-ranking position. Eventually a
compromise was reached, Conyngham becomimg Lord Steward of the
Household. A further upset occured when the King decided to
bestow the Canonry of Windsor on the tutor of Lady Conyngham's
children. The Ministers would not tolerate such an
infringement of their privileges, for such places were in their
gift. This became so serious that the Duke of Wellington was
afraid that the Ministers would be turned out. The King claimed
he had promised, and could not with honour withdraw. Liverpool
maintained that as it was the Ministers‘ prerogative, the
King's honour was not involved. The King said, "Then you want
your King to be, dishonoured?" Liverpool replied "On the
contrary, but if he persists, I can no longer serve him." The
King gave way, and the affair blew over. Such were the problems
of Court etiquette.

But the King could be jealous if he felt that the favourite had
other interests; a bone of contention was that "twenty-
five years ago Lord Ponsonby was Lady Conyngham's favoured
lover." He was away from England when her liason with the King
began, and she had not seen him since. When they did meet

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again, she was much moved, and the King was jealous; he got
the Government to find a post abroad for him as Ambassador to
Brazil, to Ponsonby's great delight.

In 1824 the King wanted to go to Italy with Lady Conyngham,
whose eldest son, Lord Mount Charles, was seriously ill there.
Wellington was against the idea, and it was finally dropped,
after much mockery from de Lieven. There was gossip, after
Mount Charles died in 1825, that he had married and fathered a
child there, and that Lady Conyngham had bribed the doctors
to keep this a secret, so that her second son could inherit.

Lady Conyngham continued to be nearly all-powerful throughout
the rest of the King's life, second only to Sir William

Knighton, the King's private secretary; she did not dare
have anybody to dine there without previously ascertaining that
Knighton would not disapprove of it. "In the meantime the

influence of Knighton and that of Lady Conyngham continue as
great as ever; nothing can be done but by their permission, and
they understand one another and play into each other's hands.
Knighton opposes every kind of expense, except that which is
lavished on her. The wealth she has accumulated by savings and
presents must be enormous. The King continues to heap all kinds
of presents on her, and she lives at his expense; they do not
possess a servant; even Lord C.'s Valet de Chambre is not
properly their servant. They all have situations in the King's
household, from which they receive their pay, while they
continue in the service of the Conynghams." The Duke of
Clarence (William IV) told a friend that George IV had given
Lady Conyngham £95,000 to buy Bifrons. But apart from money,

their life seems to have been unexciting; in June 1827,
Greville noted; "..... the dullness must be excessive, and
the people who compose his habitual society are the most
insipid and uninteresting that can be found. As for Lady
Conyngham, she looks bored to death, and she never speaks,
never appears to have one word to say to the King, who,
however, talks himself without ceasingU' Lady Conyngham may
have been bored with the King, but she certainly had reason to
be grateful for his generosity.

Towards the end of his life, the King seems to have feared that
Lady Conyngham was interested only in his generosity, and he
complained frequently both to and about her. But one of the
royal doctors thought that this was only his usual pattern

,with women, and Wellington agreed that it was merely to "try

and vex her."

George IV died on 26th June 1830, and Lord Conyngham in 1832. I
have no knowledge of Lady Conyngham's life during her
widowhood.

If you would like illustrations, the Museum of Brighton, which

is the same Department as the Royal Pavilion, has a number of
amusing and informative charicatures. You should get in touch

5


with Andrew Barlow, Keeper of Fine Art, who I am sure would be
very helpful. The telephone number is: 0273 603005.

Please do l10t hesitate to get in touch if It can be of any
further help.

Yours Sincerely,

Cynthia Campbell

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