George II's famous letter to the Prince of Wales

GEORGE II BANISHES THE PRINCE OF WALES FROM HAMPTON COURT: A CONTEMPORARY MANUSCRIPT APPARENTLY IN WALPOLE'S HAND

GEORGE II, King of Great Britain (1683-1760). [WALPOLE, Sir Robert]. Contemporary MS copy of George II's famous letter to his son, Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751), throwing him out of St. James's Palace over the birth of a granddaughter. 1 1/2 pp., folio, with integral blank, entitled, "The King's Letter." Hampton Court 10th Sept. 1737.

The letter was drafted by John, Lord Hervey (see, Memoirs, 807-808 & altered and amended by Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Oxford 1676-1745). This copy appears to be in Walpole's hand. Frederick had not given his parents, George II and Queen Caroline, "the least intimation..that the Princess was with Child...," and the suspicion was that a fraud was intended. "On the evening of 31 July 1737, while the royal family was residing at Hampton Court, Augusta went into labour. Despite the protestations of his staff..Frederick insisted on leaving immediately for St. James's, where there were few servants and no bed prepared. Augusta gave birth to a daughter there before midnight. The episode was greeted with incredulity by the court…The king shouted at the queen that it was all her fault; 'there is a false child will be put upon you..' The prince was turned out of St, James's, and the breach was not healed, even formally, until after Walpole's downfall."-ODNB. The king's letter tell his son: "This extravagant and undutiful Behaviour, in so essential a Point as the Birth of Heir to my Crown, is such an Evidence of your premeditated defiance of me, and such a Contempt of my Authority, and of the natural right belonging to your Parents, as cannot be excused by the pretended Innocence of your Intentions, nor palliated or disguised by the specious Words only…it is my Pleasure that you leave St. James's with all your Family…" The correspondence was published as Letters, in the original with translations, and Messages, that passed between the King, Queen, Prince, and Princess of Wales; on occasion of her birth of the young Princess (London: 1737). With undated pro Patria watermark ( Heawood 3711). Folded, a bit grubby, and with a tear with the loss of a dozen or so letters., easily discerned. Another copy in an unknown hand fetched $2167.00 at auction September 25, 2012.