The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1829 - 114: Unexpected Allies_2

In 1816, due to Leopold’s performance on the battlefield, George IV, who was then still the Regent King of Britain, developed a great affection for the young man and decided to marry his daughter, Princess Charlotte, to Leopold.

Leopold thus came to London, and Stockma, as Leopold’s private secretary and physician, naturally moved to London with him.

Unfortunately, a year and a half later, Princess Charlotte died in childbirth.

The last person Princess Charlotte saw before her death was neither her husband Leopold nor her father George IV, but Baron Stockma.

It is said that Princess Charlotte, like her husband, greatly admired Baron Stockma and had a high regard for his medical skills.

When she was pregnant, she once tried to invite Stockma to be her personal physician, but facing such an honor, Stockma lucidly and politely declined. Because he clearly realized that if he accepted, many of his colleagues might grow envious, and his medical advice might not be accepted. However, if any slight mistake were to happen in the future, he, being a foreign doctor, would be the first to bear the blame.

Facts proved that Stockma’s approach was correct. Not long after, he discovered that Princess Charlotte’s physicians were reducing the diet of the pregnant woman and repeatedly bloodletting, a fashionable diet therapy in Britain at the time. Stockma privately talked to Leopold about this, subtly expressing his disapproval of such a therapy.

Yet, as Stockma had anticipated beforehand, his advice was not taken. The diet therapy continued for several months, resulting in Princess Charlotte experiencing over fifty hours of labor pains during delivery, and ultimately, the baby boy born was stillborn.

By this time, the princess, barely clinging to life, and the doctors thought of Stockma first. However, when Stockma entered the room, Princess Charlotte was already exhausted. The doctors, in an attempt to soothe her pain, were incessantly feeding her alcohol.

Princess Charlotte gripped his hand tightly and said, "They have made me drunk."

A little while later, when Stockma saw the situation stabilize, he left the princess and waited in the adjacent room.

But before he could sit down, he heard the princess screaming his nickname hoarsely: "Stokey! Stokey!"

However, when Stockma rushed over, it was already too late. Princess Charlotte’s throat made the rattling sound of a dying person, and then she thrashed violently before finally bringing her legs together slowly, and everything was over.

Leopold had already been by the princess’s side for more than ten hours, planning to take a short rest, but unexpectedly, upon stepping out, he missed seeing his wife for the last time. When Stockma went to inform him, Leopold was so overwhelmed that he could hardly walk, collapsing into a chair and sitting dazedly for a long time.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this lesson that Leopold began to rely even more on Stockma from that point onward.

He even publicly expressed his appreciation for his old friend more than once: "Stockma can always admonish me with the truth, even if there are things I least want to hear."

There were ongoing rumors that in 1830, Leopold refused the Greek throne, and in 1831, he accepted the Belgian throne, with Stockma’s advice playing a decisive role in both decisions. After Leopold became King of Belgium, Stockma also embarked with him to Brussels and served as the King’s secretary for a long time.

On the surface, Stockma seemed like another version of John Conroy. One controlled Leopold, while the other controlled the Duchess of Kent, as if people from the Saxony-Coburg-Saalfeld Family were always easy to control.

But in reality, whether in terms of talent, insight, or manners, Stockma was on another level compared to Conroy, and he always appeared as a friend and loyal minister before King Leopold.

Moreover, Stockma’s reputation in London’s social circles was far better than that of Conroy. Both Sir Robert Peel of the Conservative Party and Viscount Melbourne of the Whig Party had high praise for Stockma, considering him a true gentleman.

In such circumstances, Leopold dispatched Stockma to London, appointing him as a household adviser to the Duchess of Kent, a decision that was easy to comprehend.

It was simply due to Leopold’s recent visit to England, where he found that his sister’s handling of many affairs was inappropriate, and her attitude towards Conroy was increasingly indulgent. Thus, to ensure everything was appropriate, to limit Conroy’s growing control, and simultaneously, to exert influence on his niece Victoria from Belgium, the King of Belgium had to send his most trusted friend to take charge at Kensington Palace.

Of course, from Leopold’s perspective, his actions were beyond reproach.

But the problem was, Leopold’s bold move brought Sir Arthur Hastings into great trouble.

Many of his carefully designed plans were suddenly disrupted, with all schemes needing to be rearranged.

While Conroy needed to be overthrown, Arthur was somewhat puzzled about whether trouncing Conroy into the mud after Stockma’s arrival would be advantageous or detrimental to him.