Lives of the last four princesses of the royal house of Stuart

1648.]' ILLNESS OF THE STADTHOLDEE. 33
It was at this dark era of her royal father's fortunes
that the fatal resolution was taken by him, of quitting
his palace of Hampton Court, stealthily, on the stormy
night of the 11th of September, leaving a letter for his
gaoler, Colonel Whalley, mentioning the portraits of his
consort and his eldest daughter, which he desires, as well
.as the portrait of Lady Stanhope, may be sent to their
rightful owners. The original of Mary's portrait, which
was hanging over the chimney-piece of the chamber he
was then occupying, he requests Whalley might be sent
to Lady Aubigny.*
The next intelligence of her beloved father, that
reached the Hague, announced the sad news, that he was a
prisoner at Carisbrook Castle, in the Isle of Wight.
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, the father of
Mary's consort, at this ill-omened time, exhausted by his
continuous hard struggles^ to fight the battle of life, and
defend his country from the aggressions of the King of
Spain, had early succumbed to the weakness of premature
•old age, and sunk into childlike imbecility, having become
utterly incapable of transacting business or carrying on
the arduous cares of government. His ambitious consort,
Amelia of Solms, exercised the executive power of the
state, and attempted to rule the United Provinces in
his name. This was resisted by Prince William, their
only son, who asserted his right, as the heir presumptive
of the Stadtholder, to govern as regent during his father's
incapacity.
The Princess-royal wrote kindly and respectfully to
her father-in-law on the 21st of August that year; but he
was too ill to answer her.f
She was then staying at the Brill, and she writes to
* Heath's Chronicle.
t Letters of King Charles's family, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
D