Bullfights, with grandees as toreros, masquerades, cane tourneys, and the inevitable religious pageantry, at all of which Marie Louise, glittering with gems, took her place, ran their usual course; and at the end of a week after the entry the Queen began her regular married life in the old Alcazar on the cliff, more gloomy and monotonous, even, than the Retiro, in its gardens on the other side of the capital.
The political intrigues, though they had never ceased, had been naturally somewhat abated during the Queen’s voyage and subsequent seclusion: but as soon as the marriage feasts were over the struggle began in earnest. Charles, absorbed in his courtship and marriage, had appointed no minister to succeed Don Juan, the necessary administrative duties being performed by a favourite of his, Don Jeronimo de Eguia, a man of no position or ability; and the first bone of contention was the appointment of the man who was really to rule Spain. The old party of the Queen-Mother inclined to a Board of Government, headed by the Constable of Castile; but Mariana, in appearance, at least, held herself aloof, and the minister ultimately chosen by the King was the first noble in Spain, the Duke of Medina Celi, an easy going, idle, amiable magnate, who had sided with Don Juan; but whose gentle manners had convinced the King that he would not tyrannise over him as Don Juan had done. The Duchess of Terranova and most of the household whispered constantly to the young Queen distrust and suspicion of Mariana; and after her state entry they encouraged her as much as possible to see the French ambassadress constantly. The Queen-Mother, they said, had been continually with the German ambassador and his wife talking German, why should not Marie Louise do the same with the French ambassador. But both Villars and his wife were wary, and saw that they were to be used to form a French party at Court to oppose the Queen-Mother and the Austrians, and this they were not at present inclined to do.
Villars himself constantly reiterates that the Queen-Mother was quite sincere in her professions of affection for her daughter-in-law, and he and his wife lost no opportunity of urging Marie Louise to respond cordially to her mother-in-law’s loving advances. The diplomatist attributes to Mariana, indeed, at this time, sentiments which her whole history seems to falsify, and it appears far more probable that Marie Louise was right than the ambassador when she looked askance at the tenderness of her husband’s mother. The old Queen, says Villars, was discontented with the way her Austrian kinsmen had treated her, and leaned now to the side of France, which had been friendly with her in her exile; she sincerely loved her daughter-in-law and hoped that her son would have children to succeed him by his beautiful wife. Villars, indeed, casts the whole of the blame upon Marie Louise, who, he says—probably quite truly—was lacking in judgment, decision and generosity, and hesitated too late between the Duchess of Terranova, who constantly warned her against the Queen-Mother, and the French ambassador and others who strove to persuade her to make common cause with her mother-in-law, and rule all things jointly with her.[[303]]
The nearest approach to common action of the two Queens was when they both persuaded Charles to appoint the weak, idle, Medina Celi as minister; but, in this, and in all the other manifestations of Mariana’s conciliatory amiability at the time and after, it is unquestionable that the measures and men she smiled upon were such as would, and did, inevitably lead to a state of things in which her firm hand would become indispensable. The effects of the utter ineptitude of such a government as that of Charles and Medina Celi were soon seen. The coin had been tampered with to such an extent as to have no fixed value, provisions were at famine price, and the attempt to fix low values of commodities by decree aroused a sanguinary revolt in Madrid in the early spring of 1680, that nearly overthrew the wretched government such as it was. Bandits infested the high roads, half the work of the country was done by foreigners, whilst Spaniards starved in idleness, or lived by preying upon the comparatively few who still had means.
In this abject state of affairs, the King gave but a quarter of an hour daily to his public duties, which were limited to stamping his signature on decrees placed before him, for he had neither the industry to read them nor the intellect to understand them; and the rest of his time was spent on the most puerile frivolity and in endless visits with Marie Louise to convents and churches. ‘Such visits,’ says Mme. Villars, ‘are anything but a feast for her. She insisted upon my going with her the last two days. As I knew nobody, I was very much bored, and I believe she only asked me to go in order to keep her in countenance. The King and Queen are seated in two arm chairs, the nuns sitting at their feet, and many ladies come to kiss their hands. The collation is brought, the Queen’s repast always being a roast capon, which she eats whilst the King gazes at her, and thinks that she eats too much. There are two dwarfs who do all the talking.’
A very few weeks of this idle life and good living worked its effect upon Marie Louise. In February 1680, Mme. Villars writes: ‘She has grown so fat, that if it goes much further, her face will be round. Her bosom, strictly speaking, is already too full; although it is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. She usually sleeps ten or twelve hours, and eats meat four times a day. It is true that her breakfast and her luncheon (collation) are her best meals. She always has served for lunch a capon boiled and broth, and a roast capon. She laughs very much when I have the honour to be with her. I am quite sure that it is not I who am sufficiently agreeable to put her into such a good humour, and that she must be pretty comfortable generally. No one could behave better than she does, or be sweeter and more complaisant with the King. She saw his portrait before she married him, but they did not paint his strange humour, nor his love of solitude. The customs of the country have not all been turned upside down to make them more agreeable for her, but the Queen-Mother does everything she can to soften them. All sensible people think that the young Queen could not do better than contribute on her side to the tenderness and affection that the Queen-Mother shows for her.... When I tell you that she is fat, that she sleeps well and laughs heartily, I tell you no more than the truth; but it is no less true that the life she leads does not please her.... But, after all, she is doing wonderfully, and I am quite astonished at it.’[[304]]
Already we see by this, that before Marie Louise had been in Madrid three months, she was going her own way, and was being humoured to the top of her bent by Mariana. She had been sold into a slavery of utter boredom, married to a degenerate imbecile; and she had neither brains, heart, nor ambition to take a leading part in politics, or to play the rôle that she was intended to fill in Spain by her uncle King Louis. All that was left for her, then, was to eat, drink, sleep, and be as merry as her grim surroundings would allow; and let the world wag as it would. The society of the capital and Court had reached the lowest degree of decadence; and a strong, high-minded Queen would have found ample work in reducing at least her own household to decency. Every lady in the palace and elsewhere had a gallant, and was proud of it; and it was a universal practice in theatres and public places, or even at windows looking upon the street, for lovers to converse openly in the language of signs. Immorality and vice had reached such a terrible pitch that mere children who could afford it lived in concubinage, and few people, high or low, were free from preventible disease.[[305]]
Marie Louise, utterly frivolous, made no attempt to reform all this, but swam with the stream, taking part in the Kings puerile pleasures of throwing eggshells full of scent at people, or playing with him for hours at his favourite game of spilikins for pence. Mariana looked on at it all quite complacently, Villars and his wife thought out of mere amiability. That may have been so, but it is clear to see now that all that was necessary was to let Marie Louise go her own way unchecked, and Mariana had nothing to fear from her politically or personally. As an instance of the attitude of the Queen-Mother towards the young Queen’s thoughtlessness, a little circumstance related by Mme. Villars may be quoted: ‘I was walking in the gallery of the Buen Retiro on Sunday, before seeing the comedy, thinking nothing of kings or queens, when I heard our young Princess call out my name very loudly. I entered the room whence the voice proceeded quite unceremoniously; and, to my confusion, I found the Queen seated between the King and the Queen-Mother. She had thought of nothing when she called me but her own wish to see me, quite regardless of Spanish gravity; and she burst out laughing heartily when she saw me. The Queen-Mother reassured me. She is always pleased when her daughter-in-law enjoys herself. Indeed, she made an opportunity for me to come and talk with her in a window recess, but I retired as soon as I could.’ To encourage Marie Louise to forget for a moment that she was a Spanish Queen, was to ensure her downfall.
Here is another picture of the young Queen a few days afterwards. Mme. de Sévigné had written a letter talking of Marie Louise’s beautiful little feet, with which she danced so nimbly at Versailles. The young Queen was gratified at the flattery, but ruefully said that all her pretty feet were used for now was to walk round her chamber a few times, and carry her off to bed at half-past eight every night. On this occasion Mme. Villars thus describes her: ‘She was as beautiful as an angel, weighed down but uncomplaining, by a parure of emeralds and diamonds on her head, that is to say, a thousand sparks; a furious pair of earrings, and in front, and around her, in the form of a scarf, rings, bracelets, etc. You think, no doubt, that emeralds on her brown hair would not look well, but you are mistaken. Her complexion is one of the loveliest brunettes ever seen, her throat white, and exquisitely beautiful.’
Soon the young Queen’s careless jollity received a blow, which embittered her. Charles hated and distrusted all French people; and the insistence of Marie Louise in making companions of her French maids annoyed him exceedingly; and the lives of the two maids whom she liked best were made intolerable to them to such an extent that they had to leave. The Queen was in despair, but protested and wept in vain: the two Frenchwomen were made to understand that they had to go; and when their mistress summoned them one morning she was told that they had departed from the palace for good, leaving her with only two French servants, a nurse and a maid. As usual in her trouble, she summoned Mme. Villars, who found her lying down. ‘She rose at once. It is truly surprising how beautiful she has grown. She wore her hair tied up in great curls on her forehead, with rose-coloured ribbons on her cap and on the top of her head; and she was not plastered over with rouge, as she is generally obliged to be. Her throat and bosom admirable. She slipped on a French dressing-gown, which she wore for the rest of the day. She stood thus for a short time regarding herself in a great mirror, and the view seemed to revive her. Her eyes looked as if she had been weeping much. As soon as she began to speak to me the King entered the room, and it is the rule in such cases for the ladies all to leave, except the Mistress of the Robes and some servants. I heard cards asked for, and I concluded that the Queen was going to be bored to death with the little game that the King is so fond of, at which, if you have very bad luck, you may lose a dollar. The Queen always plays it as if she was enraptured with the occupation.’