Free Queen in Waiting: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy

children.’
    ‘And she did not care that he was unfaithful to her? I can’t believe that.’
    ‘She is a great lady of higher rank than her husband; being the daughter of a Queen and the granddaughter of a King of England. She never forgets it.’ He smiled a little wryly. ‘Nor will she allow anyone else to.’
    ‘And because of this she does not care that her husband was unfaithful?’
    ‘Her royalty is the ruling passion of her life – that and the possibility of her attaining a crown. Beside that, all else seems insignificant. She has heirs of her body. She could be Queen of England and after her, George Lewis could be King.’
    ‘England! That is far away.’
    ‘To the Electress Sophia it is home. She has never been there but she calls it so. One day she hopes to receive the call which will take her there and that it will be to mount the throne. You know what her chances are.’
    ‘Yes. But there is a King across the water. Don’t you think he will come before the Electress Sophia?’
    Leibniz laughed maliciously. ‘When the Electress engaged me to work at Hanover, one of my duties was to attempt to weld together the Catholic and Protestant faiths. But when the law of succession was passed in England, there was a clause which said that only a member of the Reformed Faith could wear the crown of England. The Electress ceased then to be interested in this welding of the faiths. She was a Protestant and she decided to remain one.’
    ‘She is not a woman of strong faith.’
    ‘Her faith is in the English crown. She believes it to be the most prized diadem in the world and England the home of all that is desirable. Religion to her is something to be of use to rulers. She maintains that only rulers unworthy of the name allow it to rule them. Every day she grows nearer to the English throne her Protestantism grows stronger.’
    ‘You find this admirable?’
    ‘I find it… wise.’
    ‘Isn’t that a cynical view of religion?’
    ‘It is not a matter of cynicism. You have listened to – and indeed partaken in – our discourses. We are groping in the dark.What is faith? The very word suggests that there is reason for uncertainty. Whom do you, a young woman of good sense, admire most, the man who convinces himself he believes blindly and shuts his eyes to reason, or the one who says I am not sure but eager to find out, therefore I shall listen to every argument?’
    ‘Naturally I think it wiser to have an open mind.’
    ‘Like that of the Electress Sophia. She has an open mind. In the meantime if she has a good chance of attaining the throne of England as a Protestant and no chance at all as a Catholic, wisdom decrees that she shall be a Protestant and a Protestant she is.’
    ‘Of course it is wise, but…’
    ‘You are too emotional, my dear young lady. That is your youth. When the tempest is blowing you must trim your sails accordingly. Always remember that. Is it wise to be wrecked for a principle? So much depends on what is involved? In life one rarely comes to a clear solution. Perhaps there is none. That is what makes our discussions here of such interest and such value.’
    ‘But you yourself, I heard declined the custodianship of the Vatican Library for a principle.’
    ‘You are wrong.’
    ‘But I heard that the Pope himself offered you this appointment and you refused because to have accepted it would have entailed becoming a Catholic.’
    ‘That is true in part. I had no intention of becoming an adherent to any one form of religion. What if I had? My freedom would have been restricted, and all avenues except one closed to me. I should have accepted this and that, because it was the law laid down by the Pope.’
    ‘But is that not declining for a principle?’
    ‘In truth no. At the heart of my refusal was the knowledge that I could lead a fuller life at courts such as this and that of Hanover. I could become richer, more famous out in the world.’
    ‘Then you are ambitious.’
    ‘I