[161]. “Royalty Restored.” J. F. Molloy.
On the same evening the Duchess of York arrived to pay her duty to the Queen. It must have cost her an effort, for her second child, Mary, destined in after days to be queen, had been born barely a month previously, on the 30th of April—Prince Rupert, by the way, being her godfather. The Duchess came by water, in her own beautiful barge, and as she landed at the steps the King was waiting at the garden gate near by, and taking her by the hand, he led her along the straight, smooth alleys into the ancient palace, and so into the new Queen’s bedroom. Anne would have knelt to kiss her hand, but Catherine prevented the act of homage, and raising her, kissed her affectionately.[[162]]
[162]. “Life of Catherine of Bragança.” L. C. Davidson.
The poor little lonely bride, fresh from her convent and narrow upbringing, much younger than her actual years, bewildered by the racket in which she found herself, was perhaps already hungering for some one of her own sex to whom she could venture to unbend, and saw an augury for future friendship and confidence in the assured carriage, the fresh face, the steady, resolute eyes of English Nan. If so, she was not likely under present circumstances to be disappointed; even the King was perfectly willing to sanction such advances.
On the 15th August Evelyn mentions a visit paid to him by the Lord Chancellor. Hyde, as we know, had a year before received the earldom of Clarendon,[[163]] and though this occasion seemed to have been simply a friendly one, yet his purse and mace were borne before him when he came to Sayes Court. The diarist further notes: “They were likewise collationed with us, and were very merry. They had all been our old acquaintances in exile.”[[164]]
[163]. He was created Lord Hindon in November 1660, and Viscount Cornbury and Earl of Clarendon in April 1661. (Kennet’s “Chronicle.”)
[164]. Evelyn’s “Diary.” Wm. Bray. 1850.
Before the year was out the queen-mother came to pay her second visit, after the Restoration, to England. This time it was to welcome the new daughter-in-law who, besides her royal blood and rank, had brought such a splendid dower to the needy crown of England. The first meeting took place at the ancient palace of Greenwich, which had been little used for many years, its day having almost passed. Here Henrietta made the gentle Portuguese bride sit on one arm-chair on her right hand, while she herself occupied another. The King, waiving his precedence, of which, indeed, he was never very tenacious in such matters, took a stool, while the Duchess of York sat on one also, and the Duke stood by them.[[165]] It sounds very much as if they grouped themselves with an eye to portraiture, but it was really a matter of some importance, and thus Anne was, we see, accorded what in France was called the right of the “tabouret” by the dreaded queen, who less than two years back had declared that if the hated interloper were to enter the room by one door, she herself would leave by another. But time has its revenges, and on the return visit, which was paid at Hampton Court, which to the queen-mother must indeed have been full of bitter-sweet memories, when she, naturally, was placed on Catherine’s right hand, the Duchess of York was even provided with a chair a little to the left.[[166]]
[165]. “Life of Catherine of Bragança.” L. C. Davidson.
[166]. Ibid.