PAGE #4 has come to Carlton House, and has already told the same news to the PRINCE OF WALES, FOX, SHERIDAN, GREY, BURKE, the DUKE OF PORTLAND, LORD STORMONT, LORD LOUGHBOROUGH, LORD SANDWICH, and the DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE. They sit with various expressions of disappointment, disbelief, and anger. The PRINCE OF WALES is absolutely livid, but says nothing. After a moment, PAGE #4 bows awkwardly and exits.
GREY: [After a pause] How could this have happened? There were only thirty members in the Commons and twenty members in the Lords that we had to persuade to vote in our favor... I was sure we had gained the dedication of more than that many.
DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE: [Bitterly] Evidently, Mr. Grey, we did not.
PRINCE OF WALES: [Quoting FOX] I swear to God in Heaven that Pitt's bill shall be defeated.
FOX: Don't give me any of that, George. I am not at all in the mood for it.
PRINCE OF WALES: [Aggravated] Well, I am not in the mood for accepting a regency with limited power and influence, but I must, now, mustn't I?
FOX: [Grumbling to himself] I was so certain that it would not be approved... How could I have so inaccurately miscalculated the outcome?
Everyone stands glumly, and begins to make their way toward the door. The PRINCE OF WALES notices this and is angered by it.
PRINCE OF WALES: [Vehemently] Where are you going?
SHERIDAN: To diminish our sorrows with copious amounts of liquor.
PRINCE OF WALES: I will not go to bed until I see that I am made Prince Regent with full powers of the monarch!
DUKE OF PORTLAND: Then it seems Your Royal Highness shall never sleep again.
PRINCE OF WALES: I beg your pardon!
DUKE OF PORTLAND: It is all over now. We are indefinitely powerless.
PRINCE OF WALES: It isn't over. We cannot give in. Damn it all, I won't stand for it!
SHERIDAN: You will still be Prince Regent, George! It is us that have suffered the real loss; the prospect of our Whig ministry coming to power is lost forever.
The WHIGS exit. The PRINCE OF WALES, still livid, drinks the remnants of a bottle of brandy before hurling the empty bottle into the fireplace. Cut to ACT II, SCENE XXXXVI.
YOU ARE READING
The Drunken Feathers
Historical FictionIn this biographical series that begins in 1784, twenty-one-year-old George, Prince of Wales-- the eldest son of King George III and heir to the British throne-- spends his youth idly by keeping countless mistresses, drinking profusely, and making f...
