“Olive, provided the royal family acknowledge you, keep secret all the papers which are connected with the king’s first marriage; but should the family’s desertion (be) manifested (should you outlive the king) then, and only then, make known all the state secrets which I have left in the Earl of Warwick’s keeping for your knowledge.  Such papers I bequeath to you for your sole and uncontrolled property, to use and act upon as you deem fit, according to expediency of things.  Receive this as the sacred will of JAMES WILMOT.”

     “June —­st, 1789. 
        Witness, WARWICK.”

Mrs. Ryves maintained that up to the moment of the opening of the sealed packet her mother had believed herself to be the daughter of Robert Wilmot and the niece of Dr. Wilmot, and she did not know of any Olive Wilmot except her aunt, who was the wife of Mr. Payne.  When the first information as to her birth was given to her by Lord Warwick, she supposed herself to be the daughter of the Duke of Cumberland by the Olive Wilmot who was afterwards Mrs. Payne, and had no idea that her mother was the daughter of Dr. Wilmot, and was another person altogether.  There was a great consultation as to opening the packet before the king’s death; but the Duke of Kent persisted in his desire to know its contents, and the seals were broken.  The Duke of Kent died on the 26th of January, 1820, and George III. in the following week, on the 30th of the same month.

Mrs. Ryves then proved the identity of certain documents which bore the signatures of the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Kent.  They were chiefly written on morsels of paper, and elicited the remark from the Lord Chief-Justice, that “his royal highness seemed to have been as poor as to paper as the earl.”  She said that these documents were written in her own presence.  Among them were these:—­

“I solemnly promise to see my cousin Olive, Princess of
Cumberland, reinstated in her R——­l rights at my father’s
demise. 

          
                                                                          EDWARD.”

“May 3, 1816.”

“I bind myself, by my heirs, executors, and assigns, to pay
to my dearest coz.  Olive, Princess of Cumberland, four
hundred pounds yearly during her life. 
EDWARD.”
“May 3, 1818.”

“I bequeath to Princess Olive of Cumberland ten thousand
pounds should I depart this life before my estate of
Castlehill is disposed of. 

          
                                                                          EDWARD.”

“June 9, 1819.”

“I hereby promise to return from Devonshire early in the
spring to lay before the Regent the certificates of my
dearest cousin Olive’s birth. 

          
                                                                          EDWARD.”