On the 23rd and 24th we were at Carlton House, the Queen and two Princesses being in town, and a small party meeting them there. On the 29th the Queen came again, and we were that evening at Carlton House, the next at the Duke of York’s, and the 31st at Carlton House, where the party was rather larger. That day arrived the Grand-Duchess Catherine, widow of a Prince of Oldenburg,[163] and sister of the Emperor of Russia. This was the lady who had been so much talked of last spring for the Prince Regent, in case he could have got a divorce from the Princess; and as Count Munster was shut up with him many hours every day at that time, it was supposed he was managing the affair. However that might be, there was great bustle between Lady Liverpool and Princess Elizabeth, about arrangements for her reception. Count Lieven, the Russian Ambassador, was closeted in another room, and word was at last brought that she was gone to bed, but would be introduced to the Queen next day, and would afterwards dine and spend the evening at Carlton House.
Princess Charlotte was ordered to be present at this audience, attended by the Duchess of Leeds, and the Grand-Duchess afterwards called to leave her name at Warwick House. In the evening there was a large party at Carlton House, and a concert, which annoyed the Grand-Duchess so much that she left the room abruptly. It seems that music overcame her nerves. She was said to have frequent faintings, and to have scarcely slept at all since the death of her husband.
This sentimentality in a great politician, not to say intrigante, appeared to me very extraordinary. Her figure was slight and well-formed, her complexion good, her eyes fine, and her manners dignified, called graceful, but I think not gracefully feminine, at least not when she spoke, her nose Calmuck, and, altogether, I thought her very like what I remembered her father, only I liked his manners better. She had with her a Prince Gagarin and a Princess Volkonskoi, apparently a good kind of woman, daughter of the famous Prince Repnin,[164] and a Mademoiselle Aladensky, who had been her governess—a sensible woman, who did not appear to me very good natured; both were elderly, and plain in their dress.[165]