In 1820, Queen Caroline of England stood accused of the crime of adultery. Her lawyer was Henry Lord Brougham, the eminent barrister and statesman. Brougham knew that Caroline’s husband, King George IV, was also guilty of adultery. The question: Would Brougham use that evidence at trial? Doing so would take the heat off Caroline, but it would almost certainly lead to George’s forfeiture of the Crown, political upheaval, economic chaos, etc.
Brougham threatened to do so, and his threat was enough. The charges against Caroline were dropped. He justified his position this way: “An advocate, in the discharge of his duty, knows but one person in all the world, and that person is his client. . . . Separating the duty of a patriot from that of an advocate, he must go on reckless of consequences, though it should be his unhappy fate to involve his country in confusion.”
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