When Henrietta and Charles reached Hanover, they were destitute once more. If the plan to win the trust and patronage of the electoral court failed, then the future looked bleak indeed. They had no money to fall back on and every penny received from Henrietta’s allowance was plunged straight into the pockets of their creditors unless Charles got to it first. If he did, then it went into the coffers of the nearest brothel or was lost at the gaming tables or drunk away in a London tavern. By now Henrietta was “of a just height, well made, extremely fair, with the finest light-brown hair; was remarkably genteel, and always well dressed with taste and simplicity.”107 She would be an ornament to any court gathering, and she had the manners, pedigree and intelligence to match.
The English visitors were made very welcome indeed when they arrived at the court of Hanover and though it was Dowager Electress Sophia who was first in line to the throne, she knew as well as anyone that she was unlikely to inherit it. By now she was in her eighties and Queen Anne, the current incumbent, was only in her forties, so Sophia was certain that she would predecease Anne by some considerable years. The ambitious English who flocked to Hanover suspected it too, so they made it their business to ingratiate themselves with George Louis and his son as well as Sophia. After all, there was no point being favoured by the mother if her son and heir didn’t even know your name. Henrietta intended to make the Howards indispensable to both.
Once she and her husband had found humble rooms in Hanover, Henrietta went to Herrenhausen whilst Charles slunk off to sample the hedonistic delights that the electorate could offer. Henrietta was granted an audience with Sophia, who had always valued rank and title and was happy to meet the in-law of an earl. Despite her reduced circumstances, Henrietta had pedigree to spare and she could complement that with a pleasing character and keen mind. She was, in short, just the kind of woman that the electress had always found charming company and once she was admitted to Sophia’s inner circle, Henrietta made herself an indispensable attendant. Let’s not forget that it was Henrietta to whom Sophia mocked Melusine as “that tall mawkin”, a sure sign that she was a trusted friend of the family. Acceptance by Sophia meant that a similar friendship from Caroline of Ansbach was swift to follow. Sophia adored her granddaughter-in-law and Caroline loved her in turn, so Henrietta found herself with two champions at Herrenhausen. Under Sophia of Hanover’s wing, she had seemingly found her place.
But there was still a fly named Charles in the ointment. It was one thing for Henrietta to be carving out a position at Sophia’s side, but if the Howards were to enjoy continued favour then Charles would need to turn on his charm once more. He too would need to find a position. Whilst Henrietta, Sophia and Caroline had much in common to discuss, the hedonistic Charles and the dour elector had precious few shared interests. Worse still, though Sophia loved the attention that the English paid to her, George Louis was far from fond of them. He regarded them as fortune seekers who sought his favours only for the sake of their own ambition, so perhaps that’s why he fell for the earthy charms of Charles Howard. Whatever it was, soon the elector and Henrietta’s husband were unlikely friends. Even better, George Louis and Sophia assured Charles and Henrietta that there would be positions waiting for them when the Hanoverians assumed the British throne.
Of course, there was one other person in Hanover to whom Henrietta would endear herself. That was George Augustus, the son of the elector and the husband of Caroline, who had so welcomed Henrietta into her coterie. The sociable and outgoing George Augustus was more his mother’s son than his father’s and he was just as charmed by Henrietta as his grandmother Sophia had been. The dowager watched the growing intimacy between the two with a wry amusement, commenting only, “It will improve his English”. She had always known when to be discreet.
At what point the intimacy between George Augustus and his wife’s attendant became something more than platonic has been the subject of debate for decades. No correspondence remains to give us a clue, but when one considers Henrietta’s priorities at this stage in her life, I think it’s unlikely that she and George Augustus were lovers before they left Hanover for England. Besides, George Augustus had other favourites amongst his wife’s circle. Henrietta was far from being at the front of the line.
The Howards had been at the Hanoverian court for approximately a year when tragedy struck. Dowager Electress Sophia died in her beloved garden at Herrenhausen and her son George Louis took her place as next in line to the British throne. A matter of weeks later Queen Anne died, and Henrietta’s life was to change once again.