It was not till Christmas Eve that the Duke himself landed at Dover, after a very rough passage, and made his way to Whitehall, where Philip and Mary received him with great honour, and showed him all the sights of London. On the 7th of January the Lord High Admiral took him by water to see the great guns at the Tower, and on St. Paul's Day he accompanied the King and the Cardinal in state to the Cathedral for the patronal feast. A procession of 160 priests bearing crosses, walked round the churchyard, with the children of Paul's School and the Greyfriars, singing "Salve, Festa Dies!" and passed in through the great west doors. After Mass a state banquet was held, with great ringing of bells, and bonfires blazed in all the streets of London throughout the night.[494]
Jan., 1555] A ROYAL GODMOTHER
Emanuel Philibert's visit revived the rumour of a marriage between him and the Princess Elizabeth, which the Emperor had suggested some months before. Whether from policy or genuine regard, Philip had espoused his sister-in-law's cause and refused to allow Mary to send her abroad or keep her away from Court. The Duke of Savoy was a pleasant and good-looking Prince, whose martial appearance and genial manners made him very popular in England. But Elizabeth herself quite declined to listen to this proposal, saying that she would never marry a foreigner, and, since there now seemed good hope of the birth of an heir to the crown, the question of the succession was no longer of the first importance. Something, however, must be done to pacify the Duke, who complained bitterly of the Emperor's neglect, and, seeing little chance of recovering Savoy, asked the King for the viceroyalty of Milan, which Ferrante Gonzaga, on his part, refused to surrender. Philip could think of no better plan to gratify his cousin and retain his services than to give him the hand of the Duchess of Lorraine, a Princess whom he was known to regard with great affection.[495]
Accordingly the King and Queen sent pressing invitations to Christina, begging her to come to England as soon as possible. Before she could comply with their request, she had to keep an old engagement to be present at the christening of Count Egmont's infant daughter, which took place on the evening of the 19th of January. The Queen of England had graciously consented to be one of the godmothers, while the Duchess of Lorraine was the other, and the Palatine Frederic stood godfather to his kinswoman's little daughter. Mary wrote to the Duchess of Aerschot, begging Anne to represent her on this occasion, and sent a costly gold cup containing forty angels to her godchild by the new Ambassador, Sir John Masone. The Palsgrave, not to be outdone, sent the child a diamond cross, and another one, set with rubies, diamonds, and emeralds, to the mother. Anne and Christina were both present at the christening, which was attended by all the Court, "everything," wrote Masone, "being very richly ordered, the supper and banquet right stately, and Her Majesty's cup so walked up and down, from man to woman, and woman to man, as I dare answer few were there that did not go full freighted to bed."
Sir John further told the Countess in what good part her request to make her daughter a Christian woman had been taken by his royal mistress, who would willingly have done the same in person, had the distance not been so great, and Sabina sent her most humble thanks to the Queen, saying that, as she already had one daughter called Mary, she had decided to name the infant Mary Christina, after her two godmothers.[496]
April, 1555] CHRISTINA'S GOOD WISHES
When this function was over, Christina began to prepare for her journey to England, but the weather was so tempestuous that she did not cross the Channel until the first days of March. She rode from Dover, by way of Canterbury, to London, where the King and Queen received her in the most cordial manner, Philip made no secret of his affection for his cousin, the only woman in his family with whom he had ever been intimate, and Mary, in the first flush of her wedded happiness and in the proud expectation of soon being a mother, welcomed Christina warmly. Unluckily, we have no particulars of the Duchess's visit to this country, over which she might have reigned herself as Queen. We know that she was present with the rest of the Court at the great joust held on Lady Day in the tilting-yard at Whitehall, when Philip and a band of knights, armed with falchions and targets, and clad in blue and yellow, rode out against two other troops in red and green, and some 200 lances were broken.[497] But the only record that we have of this her first visit to England is a letter which she wrote to Mary on returning to Flanders. She thanked the Queen for the great honour and kindness which she had shown her, and commended the captain of the ship in which she sailed, who, as Her Majesty would doubtless learn, had rendered her notable service on this troublesome passage:
"I will say no more," she adds, "except to regret that I am no longer in Your Majesty's presence to be able to render you some small service in return for all the goodness which I have received at your hands. I beg God, Madame, to send you good health and long life, and give you a fine boy, such as you desire.
"Your very humble and obedient cousin
and servant,
"Chrestienne.