Sometimes William argued, expostulated and implored during two hours together.

But he found the comrade of his youth an altered man, unreasonable, obstinate and disrespectful even before the public eye.
The Prussian minister, an observant and impartial witness, declared that his hair had more than once stood on end to see the rude discourtesy with which the servant repelled the gracious advances of the master.
Over and over William invited his old friend to take the long accustomed seat in his royal coach, that seat which Prince George himself had never been permitted to invade; and the invitation was over and over declined in a way which would have been thought uncivil even between equals.
A sovereign could not, without a culpable sacrifice of his personal dignity, persist longer in such a contest.

Portland was permitted to withdraw from the palace.

To Heinsius, as to a common friend, William announced this separation in a letter which shows how deeply his feelings had been wounded.

"I cannot tell you what I have suffered.