[70] Sir George Goring, afterwards Earl of Norwich (1583-1663). He was at this time vice-chamberlain to the Queen.
[71] William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, elder brother of Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery.
[72] There were at this time only two dukes, viz., Buckingham and James Stuart, Duke of Lennox and Richmond; but, as the latter was a lad of fourteen, it is very natural for Bassompierre to speak of the King’s favourite as “the duke.”
[73] Bassompierre also expresses his dissatisfaction with his reception in England, and with the English generally, in a letter to the Bishop of Mende, formerly Grand Almoner to the Queen. “I found,” he writes, “condescension amongst the Spaniards and civility and courtesy amongst the Swiss in my embassies to those nations, but the English would abate nothing of their natural pride and arrogance.” So we see the charge of “insular pride” is nearly three centuries old, at any rate. The bishop replies: “I am not surprised that you found more courtesy and satisfaction amongst the Spaniards than in the island upon which the tempest has cast you. I have always found the English as unreasonable as the Swiss, but less faithful to their honour than the Spaniards.” No doubt the bishop thought it very unreasonable of the English government to deprive him of his post, but, unless all the charges brought against him by the commissioners appointed to reply to Bassompierre’s complaints are to be disbelieved, he had only himself to thank for it.
[74] Madame de Motteville goes so far as to assert, on the authority of Henrietta, that, not only had Buckingham fomented the dissensions between husband and wife, but that he had openly avowed to the Queen that such was his deliberate intention. Whether or no he is to be credited with so perilous a candour, it can scarcely be doubted that his attitude towards the young Queen was a hostile one, and, on one occasion he is said to have told her insolently to beware how she behaved, since in England queens had had their heads cut off before now.
[75] Charlotte de la Trémoille, daughter of Claude, Seigneur de la Trémoille, Duc de Thouars, and Charlotte of Nassau, daughter of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. She had married James Stanley, Viscount Strange, afterwards seventh Earl of Derby—“the loyal Earl of Derby”—who was beheaded in 1651. She is celebrated in history for her heroic defence of Latham House against the troops of the Parliament.
[76] Presumably, these were Charles’s private jewels, for many of the Crown jewels had been pawned to the States-General. “Warrants are extant,” says Croker, “authorising Buckingham and Sackville Crow to pawn jewels to the amount of £300,000; viz.: ‘a great rich jewel of goulde, call’d the Mirror of Great Britain, having twoe faire litle dyamonds, cut lozenge wise, garnish’d with small dyamonds, and a pendant with a faire dyamond cutt in fawcetts without foyle, etc.’”
[77] During Bassompierre’s embassy, Henrietta Maria wrote her mother a letter which the marshal regarded as a proof that she distrusted him. On learning of this, the Queen wrote to him as follows:—
“My Cousin, Understanding that you had been vexed respecting a letter I wrote to the Queen my mother, and that you think that I distrust you, I beg you to dismiss the idea and to believe that I am not so ungrateful for the services which you have rendered me as to avoid you. M. le Duc [probably the Duc de Chevreuse] will tell you about the affair as it happened; and, as for myself, I can assure you that my intention never was to offend you, for I should be most blameworthy to act thus against persons who testify affection for me, particularly against you, whom I honour, and to whom my obligations are so great that I shall ever remain,
“Your affectionate cousin,
“Henriette-Marie.”