The King had a calm passage to Dover, but the ladies were less fortunate, for an equinoctial gale sprang up when they were halfway across the Channel.
"The Duchesses," wrote Philip's secretary, Jean de Courteville, "had to dance without music between Dover and Calais, and the results were such as are commonly the case with travellers unaccustomed to the sea. The great festivities we are having here this Lent will grieve them the less."[522]
But if the passage was disagreeable, nothing was lacking in the kindness of their reception. The Queen sent her litter to meet them at Dover, with chariot and hackney horses for their suite, and at Gravesend, Lady Lennox and Lady Kildare were waiting to conduct them in the royal barge to Whitehall. Here Philip received them at the water-gate, and led them up the steps into the great hall, where Mary welcomed her guests. The King and Queen who had only arrived from Greenwich the day before rode in state through the city, with the Lord Mayor carrying the sceptre at the head of the guilds and crafts of London, while a salute was fired from the Tower and bells rang from all the churches.
Both the Duchesses were lodged in the Palace of Westminster, Christina in rooms on the ground-floor, looking on the gardens, and Margaret in an apartment on the upper floor, commanding a view of the Thames.[523] Soon after their arrival another visitor was brought by the Bishop of London to see Their Majesties—an Envoy from the Czar of Muscovy, who was lodged in Fenchurch Street, as the guest of the Company of Muscovite Merchants. Englishmen and Spaniards, Lorrainers and Italians, alike looked with curious eyes at this stranger from the shores of the Polar Sea, who was clad in robes of Oriental splendour, and whose turban glittered with gems. He brought the Queen a present of magnificent sables from the Czar, and saluted her by bowing his whole body down and touching the ground with his hand. In spite of his strange clothes and barbarous language, he was a cultivated person, as keen to see the sights of London as Christina herself. One day he dined with the Lord Mayor in gorgeous attire, another he attended Mass at Westminster and saw St. Edward's shrine, with the relics which had been fortunately preserved when the Abbey was plundered.[524]
April, 1557] ST. GEORGE'S FEAST
After spending a fortnight at Whitehall, Philip and Mary took their guests to spend Easter at Greenwich. On Maundy Thursday the King and Queen washed the feet of a number of poor beggars, and blessed the cramp rings, which were as much prized in Spain and Flanders as in England. Easter Day witnessed fresh balls and banquets, dog and bear fights, bull-baiting and horse-races, after which a large hunting-party was given in the park for the Duchess of Lorraine's amusement. On the 22nd of April the royal party returned to Whitehall for St. George's Feast. High Mass was celebrated in the Abbey by the Bishop of Winchester, and all the Knights of the Garter, in their mantles of royal blue, walked in procession round the inner court of the palace, while the Queen and her guests looked on from a window on the garden side. The King and Queen and all the Knights of the Order attended vespers in the Abbey, after which the Muscovite Envoy came to take leave of Their Majesties, and delivered a long farewell speech, which was translated by an interpreter into English and Spanish, expressing his hope that these mighty Sovereigns might live to see their children's children. Six English ships were in readiness to escort the stranger across the Northern seas, and prevent him falling into the hands of the Norsemen, who were jealous of English interference with the trade of Muscovy.
On Sunday the Queen gave a grand banquet, and appeared resplendent in cloth of gold and jewels. Christina sat on her right, and Margaret, with her little son, on the King's left hand. The next morning the Duchess of Parma left for Italy, but Christina, at Philip's entreaty, remained in London another ten days. She was already very popular with the English, and made friends with Lord Arundel, Lord Pembroke, and several other nobles and ladies at Court, while her splendid robes and jewels, her numerous suite and fine horses, excited general admiration. In the midst of the Court fêtes, she found time to visit several shrines and places of interest, and, while the King was holding the Chapter of the Garter on St. George's Day, went by water to the Tower, and was shown its treasures and antiquities. But in one respect her visit proved a failure. Mary refused to entertain any idea of the Savoy marriage, and would not even allow Christina a glimpse of Princess Elizabeth, who was kept at Hatfield in strict seclusion during her visit. What was worse, the Duchess's presence revived all the Queen's jealousy, and, in spite of the King's protests, Christina found it prudent to hasten her departure. All manner of stories about Mary's dislike of the Duchess found their way to the French Court, and King Henry had many jokes with Soranzo on the subject, and told him he heard that the Queen flew into a frantic passion when the King led out his cousin to dance at Greenwich.[525]
Philip did his best to atone for his wife's ill-humour, and, when Christina expressed a wish to visit Ghent on her return, wrote to ask the Duke of Savoy to see that she and her daughters were well lodged and entertained in the old Prinzenhof. On the 11th of May the Duchess wrote a formal letter of thanks to the Queen from Dover, acknowledging the attentions which she had received from Her Majesty and all her subjects, and on the 8th of June she sent her a second letter from Ghent, on behalf of the widow and daughter of Sir Jacques de Granado, a Brabant gentleman who had been Equerry to Henry VIII. and Edward VI., and had met his death by accident during the Duchess's visit. As he rode into the privy garden at Whitehall before the Queen's chariot, his bridle broke, the horse shied violently, and dashed his rider's head against the wall. Sir Jacques was killed on the spot, and buried at St. Dunstan's in the East two days afterwards with a great display of torches and escutcheons. On Christina's recommendation, the Queen granted a pension of £50 to the widow, and saw that she and her children were amply provided for.[526]
June, 1557] THE VICTORY OF ST. QUENTIN
From Ghent the Duchess went to meet her sister Dorothea at Jülich, the Court of the Duke of Cleves and the Archduchess Maria. The reformed faith was now firmly established in the Palatinate, and Dorothea's well-known Lutheran leanings were a great source of annoyance to her own family. "The Electress Dorothea," wrote Badoer from Brussels in 1557, "is known to be a Lutheran and against the Emperor, and is as much hated here as her sister Christina is beloved." From his retreat at St. Yuste, Charles begged Philip to invite Dorothea to settle at Brussels, "lest one of our own blood should openly forsake the faith." When the Princess declined this proposal, Philip and Arras desired Christina to use her influence to bring her sister to a better mind. But Dorothea resisted all these attempts obstinately, and went back to Neuburg to live among her husband's kindred and worship God in her own way.[527]