(Carlton House, about a week later. The PRINCE OF WALES stands in the foyer as servants dress him in his hat and cloak. Enter SERVANT #2.)
SERVANT #2
Your Royal Highness has a visitor waiting in the crimson drawing room.
PRINCE OF WALES
(Excited)
Is it Mrs. Fitzherbert?
SERVANT #2
No, sir. It is a Colonel George Hotham, Your Royal Highness' Treasurer, sent by His Majesty the King.
PRINCE OF WALES
Oh... Well, tell Colonel Hotham I cannot see him now. I am about to depart for Westminster.
SERVANT #2
He stressed most vocally that he must see Your Royal Highness immediately.
PRINCE OF WALES
If he insists...
(The PRINCE OF WALES is led by SERVANT #2 into the crimson drawing room, where they find COLONEL HOTHAM waiting. SERVANT #2 exits and COLONEL HOTHAM bows rather clumsily.)
COLONEL HOTHAM
(Clears throat nervously)
Good morning, Your Royal Highness.
PRINCE OF WALES
(Bows)
Colonel Hotham, forgive me for hastening this meeting, but I have an engagement at noon. What are the particulars of my finances?
COLONEL HOTHAM
I do not yet know, sir. Lord Southampton, the Head of Your Royal Highness' Household, has sent me to collect your overdue bills in order to calculate the sum of your debts.
PRINCE OF WALES
What, all of them?
COLONEL HOTHAM
(Regretfully)
It must be done, Your Royal Highness.
(The PRINCE OF WALES sighs and rummages through various drawers of his desk. He pulls papers out of each drawer and hands them to the bewildered COLONEL HOTHAM.)
COLONEL HOTHAM
(Intimidated by the number of bills)
Oh, my. Well, I thank...
PRINCE OF WALES
Just a moment, sir.
(The PRINCE OF WALES circulates the room and pulls papers out from under the furniture, on top of the mantle, behind the curtains, and under the pillows. He takes the bills and hands them to COLONEL HOTHAM, nearly overwhelming him.)
PRINCE OF WALES (cont.)
There, that should be all of them.
(The PRINCE OF WALES exits the drawing room and heads outside, letting COLONEL HOTHAM follow behind with the mass of papers in his arms.)
COLONEL HOTHAM
This amount of debt will take a great multitude of hours to calculate; I might have an estimate by October. Until then, I would advise Your Royal Highness to keep economy in mind by...
PRINCE OF WALES
(Being helped into his carriage)
Good day, Colonel Hotham!
COLONEL HOTHAM
And a good day to you, Your Royal Highness! Now, about reducing your budget, I would first recommend...
(As the carriage drives off, it blows some of the papers out of COLONEL HOTHAM's hands, and he scrambles to get them. The overture to Mozart's 'Abduction from the Seraglio' begins to play. Cut to SCENE VII.)
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...
