This question is because of "one of those things I read, but can't
remember where."  Prince William Henry, the youngest son of King
George III who will become the Duke of Clarence and finally King
William IV in 1830, had a personality completely different than his
older brother, the "Prince of Wales" who was an absolute Lothario.  In
the Spring or Summer of 1781, when Prince William Henry is about 16,
his older brother tries to lead him astray with drinking, girls, and
parties.  King George III is furious and afraid that the older brother
might succeed, so he arranges for William Henry to go to America with
Admiral Digby who is on his way there to replace Admiral Graves and
take command of the British naval squadron in New York.  They arrive
in New York on September 26, 1781.  The requirement for General Henry
Clinton and the British military command structure in New York to
provide a proper welcome and entertainment for William Henry delays
work on preparing the fleet destined for the relief of General
Cornwallis who is then under siege at Yorktown.  This delay is one of
the reasons the relief force does not arrive in time and Cornwallis is
forced to surrender effectively ending the American War of
Independence.  I am working on the teleplay for a mini-series on the
Yorktown Campaign, and want to include the background on this
incident.  But I cannot locate the source of the story and the
details.  In order to include this in the mini-series, I need to
substantiate and reference the source.  The question, therefore: "Is
this a true story, and if so, where is it spelled out for sake of
proper reference."

Hello.

Yes, the story is basically true.  I have located two published
sources that mention this incident.

First, from the book "First Salute" (1989) by Barbara W. Tuchman:

'With his three ships, Digby duly arrived on September 24, bringing
one element to  brighten the situation in the person of Prince William
Henry, the King's son and future successor as King William IV. Under
some happy ministerial illusion, he had been chosen, according to a
rumor picked up in Rochambeau's camp, to visit America with the
intention that would eventually take office as Governor of "opulent
and prosperous" Virginia. A 21-gun salute boomed rather emptily in
greeting. How many people it made unhappily conscious that the guns
were boom here but not at York, we cannot know.  The visiit of the
Prince showed that New York still had energy, if not to galvanize a
relief mission, at least to entertain royalty. Lethargy vanished in a
burst of parties, receptions and parades for the visiting Prince.
Tours of the city and reviews of the German and English regiments,
dinners with distinguished citizen an evening concert by a military
band, with General Clinton in attendance, took minds off anxiety about
Cornwallis while evoking a nice show of loyalty to the Crown.
  While the bands played in New York, Cornwallis watched the horizon
in vain for masts to appear.  A dispatch from Yorktown told how he was
"in daily expectation of the appearance of the British fleet to
relieve, and without them has no great hopes of withstanding the great
force collected against him." War Councils summoned by Clinton in New
York conferred futily, unable to decide what to do.'

source:
Page 278, "First Salute" (1989) by Barbara W. Tuchman, read using
Amazon.com's "search inside" feature.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0345336674/


My local public library has access to a database of history journals. 
I located another reference in the October 1931 issue of The American
Historical Review. Interestingly, Cornwallis had apparently sent a
letter warning Clinton to expect "the worst" if he were not relieved
soon.  That letter was received by Clinton on September 23rd. 
Amazingly, the next few days were devoted to entertaining Prince
William Henry!

From The American Historical Review:

'Next day, the 26th, Prince William landed at New York, and two days
were consumed in parties, parades, receptions and speeches.
 Cornwallis's letter announcing that if he were not speedily relieved,
Clinton might expect to hear "the worst", reached New York on the 23d,
when Clinton interpreted it to mean the Cornwallis would be forced to
retreat out of harm's way. On the 26th it impressed itself on him that
"worst" might have another meaning, and he hastily called a council of
general officers, who expressed the opinion that "worst" meant "worst"
and that Cornwallis could not retreat, but would be forced to
surrender.'
source: page 45
"A View of Cornwallis's Surrender at Yorktown"
Randolph G. Adams
The American Historical Review, Vol. 37, No. 1. (Oct., 1931)

A footnote after "two days were consumed in parties, parades,
receptions and speeches" cites the following source(s):

"Clinton to Germain, Sept 26; Stokes, Iconography, V. 1136"

Thus, if you need additional details about Prince William Henry's
fateful visit to New York City, you might try to take a look at page
1136 in Volume 5 of Isaac Stokes' "The iconography of Manhattan
island, 1498-1909." Here's the bibliographic data for that from the
Library of Congress:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+16000765&CNT=10+records+per+page


-----------

search strategy:
amazon.com search inside: "prince william henry"

I hope this helps.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by michael1776-ga on 03 Jan 2004 09:51 PST

Thank you for your response, and I have First Salute and all the
correspondence between Clinton and Cornwallis.  It is not the incident
in New York and the result of the delay which is creating my problem;
that is all well documented by hundreds of sources and accepted by
everyone.  My problem is the background to the story - the reason for
Prince William having been sent to America - the fact that his father,
George III, felt that he was being led astray by his older brother,
the Prince of Wales and that he needed to separate them.  This is the
part - the background - that I cannot substantiate and need the
reference source for.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 03 Jan 2004 11:22 PST

Oh, my apologies. You presented the story as a continuous narrative
with no obvious division between what was "background" (that needed to
be confirmed) and what wasn't. When you asked, "Is this a true
story?", I took "this" to mean the overall incident (i.e., Prince
William Henry's visit causing the delay).

Again, though, I'm very sorry, and I will attempt to locate a source
for the idea that Prince William Henry was sent in order to separate
him from the bad influence of his brother.

I will report back soon.

Thanks.

---

Clarification of Answer by juggler-ga on 03 Jan 2004 16:11 PST

Hi.

Well, I paid a visit to a local library and managed to find a book
that discusses the events in Prince William Henry's life immediately
preceding his arrival in New York.

The book is:

"The Life and Times of William IV" (1884) by Percy Hetherington
Fitzgerald. Bibiliographic data at the Library of Congress:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+03026000&CNT=10+records+per+page


According to Fitzgerald's book, William Henry's carousing with his
brothers did cause him to be shipped off in May 1781.


Here are some excerpts:

"The Prince was soon despatched (sic) home, arriving in London on March 8th...
...The young man was meanwhile employing his holiday in learning from
his elder brothers how to enjoy the wild pleasures of the town,
frequently masquerading at Vauxhall and Ranelagh.  At one of these
places a tar got into a conflict with a Spanish grandee, which ended
as usual in the watch-house; when, on unmasking, it was found that the
latter was the Prince of Wales, and the tar Prince William. This sort
of roystering may have contributed to the shortening of his furlough,
for on Admiral Geary setting sail from Spithead in May, the Prince had
to join his vessel, and sail with him.   The cruise was a short one,
for the fleet returned in August."

From: Pages 7-8, "The Life and Times of William IV" (1884).


Thus, William Henry was actually back in London by August 1781, before
shipping out again on the voyage that would take him to New York. 
Fitzgerald points to William Henry's involvement with a young woman
named Miss Fortescue as what caused his father to make him set sail
again so soon.

"However, only a week after his return he had to set sail again. It
was said that another reason was an early passion  he conceived for a
young lady, Miss Fortescue, and which gave much displeasure to his
father.
  On this occasion he made part of the expedition that was to relieve
Gibraltar under Admiral Darby, who had nearly 300 vessels in charge. 
He thus witnessed that stirring and oft-described scene, which makes
one of the most brilliant pages in English naval annals?perhaps the
most discreditable in those of the other powers. After this he
repaired to New York..."

From: Page 11, "The Life and Times of William IV" (1884).

------------

I hope this helps. If not, please let me know.  I will resume my
search if necessary. Thanks.

When I originally posted the question, it was poorly worded and not
exactly clear what I was looking for.  When I asked for a
clarification Juggler-ga made the extra effort to track down the
missing information and providing me with what I needed.  Excellent
work.  Thanks.

Thank you for the tip.
-juggler