CHAPTER EIGHTIt seemed to Gretna that for the next few weeks there was never a moment when she was not at a party or getting ready to go to a party. Everyone said that the London Season of 1786 was one of the most unusual and spectacular gaiety that had been seen for years.
Gretna was quite prepared to believe it. The King and Queen, having more or less abdicated all the functions of the Court, spent their time in lonely isolation at Buckingham House.
Society looked therefore to the Prince of Wales to give a lead and accompanied by Mistress Fitzherbert he went from ball to masque and from Assembly to rout until Gretna’s impressions were so chaotic that she found it difficult to remember whom she had met or which person was more distinguished than the last.
The speed that she was living
