QUEEN CAROLINE UNLEASHED a crisis in 1820 that made it the hardest period of Liverpool's career. Having failed to secure terms from her, he faced the challenge of moving a bill to dissolve the royal marriage through a hostile parliament amidst popular outcry and a simmering quarrel with George IV. Scandal revived tensions from 1819 fueled by radical agitation amidst an economic downturn that had prompted the notorious Six Acts to check protest. Britain seemed at the edge of a revolutionary moment. Rather than the lurid imaginings of plebeian insurgency that satirists mocked as overwrought, the real threat involved the risk of a weak ministry being unable to hold authority amidst growing protest and a split within the elite. There lay the real parallel with France from 1789. Liverpool had seen for himself in Paris how failure to govern had thrown power to whoever dared seize it. Realizing that politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, he saw the need to assert lawful authority, but doing so required a confidence from king and parliament that often seemed in doubt. Even once the immediate crisis passed, prospects remained uncertain while George IV was at odds with his ministers. Liverpool had to weather an exceptional storm and its aftermath.

A successful close to the 1819 parliamentary session had strengthened Liverpool's hand, but the prince regent again pressed the question of a divorce. His demands the previous year for an inquiry into Princess Caroline's scandalous behavior had led the cabinet to acquiesce reluctantly in what became known as the Milan Commission. Since material hitherto gathered gave insufficient proof of adultery, Sir John Leach, the prince regent's legal advisor named vice-chancellor in January 1818, proposed sending agents to secure direct evidence. The cabinet only consented on the understanding they pledged no further action regardless of what transpired. Countenancing the step, Leach had told John Powell, the solicitor appointed to manage the inquiry, did not make it the cabinet's measure. He also made clear the aim to exclude Caroline from the throne and separate her from the prince. Even with Liverpool's guarded consent, the plan went further than the cabinet liked. Unable to dissuade the prince regent they tried to downplay the proceeding's official character which amounted to a distinction without a difference.