I now implore your Majesty to send back the bearer of this letter as soon as possible with full instructions on all points.
The future Queen is, if I am not mistaken, the daughter of a sister of Count Egmont.
The Queen has sent for me again, and shown me a letter from the Queen Mother, informing her of the approaching marriage of her son the King, and telling her that the wedding is to take place next Tuesday; she requests her to send nearly all her attendants to wait on the new Queen.[53] Accordingly, many of her people have left, in order to oblige the King; a few have refused to change their mistress at such short notice. Among these last are the Comte de Fiesco and his wife. I should be glad if your Majesty would notice their loyal conduct in your next letter.
I trust your Majesty will seriously consider what ought to be done; we must have a clear and distinct answer.
Whither is the Queen, your Majesty’s daughter, to go? It is impossible for her to remain in France without seriously compromising her position, for here all will attach themselves to the new Queen, and, as usual, worship the rising sun! It is a common saying that if one loses one’s position in life, life is not worth the having. I will not say more, as I rely on your Majesty’s discretion, and affection for your most loving and obedient daughter.
In the first place, we must have either cash or credit, and for that reason I am going to the Netherlands. As soon as the messenger shall have returned to Brussels, I shall be in a position to draw the money from whatever house your Majesty may please to appoint, and return with it to the Queen.
By this means I trust we shall be able to get away from Paris before the King returns, or at any rate leave soon after his arrival, and thus save our eyes and ears from a great deal of vexation; for when changes of this kind take place there is much that is unpleasant.
The same day.
As to the dower question, of which I wrote from Lyons, the Queen’s advisers at Paris think that it will be impossible to obtain a settlement on Crown lands for the whole of the 60,000 francs per annum due to the Queen. They say this was not done for the Queen of Scots, though France was then much more prosperous, and her uncle, the Cardinal,[54] was absolute master of the realm.
Paris, February 9, 1575.