Mary Tudor (45 page)

As Renard reported on July 9, “the officers appointed for his Highness’ service have been living at Southampton at great expense for a long time and are now beginning to leave that place, speaking strangely of his Highness.”
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Two aldermen in the City of London were ordered to keep watch every night and one or two constables until three or four in the morning for fear of “some disturbances among the citizens in detestation of the Spanish affair.”
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Pensions were distributed by the imperial ambassador to “render his Highness’s coming secure,” and the sum of 5,000 crowns was distributed among a number of gentlemen and officers who had served the queen in the last rebellion, “in order to keep them well disposed.” In the hope that all would go smoothly, Simon Renard drew up guidelines for Philip, suggesting how he might ingratiate himself with the English people:

NOTES FOR PRINCE PHILIP’S GUIDANCE IN ENGLAND

At three in the afternoon of Thursday, July 19, Philip finally landed at Southampton. A great throng of nobles and gentry met his ship, and the earl of Arundel presented him with the Order of the Garter, which was buckled just below his knee, and a mantle of blue velvet fringed with gold and pearl. The prince was rowed ashore the following day in a magnificent state barge covered with white and black cloth, furnished with fine carpets and a chair of brocade, and manned by twenty men dressed in the queen’s livery of green and white.
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An English household of 350, headed by the earl of Arundel, had been made ready for the prince, but Philip had brought his own, immediately causing tension between the English and the Spaniards.

In London the populace marked the Spanish prince’s safe arrival with officially organized bonfires and feasting, as well as “ringing and playing.” Two days later, processions, Te Deums, and more ringing of bells were ordered in every parish of London.
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Philip sent the count of Egmont to Winchester to “inform the Queen of his arrival, visit her, tell her of his health and assure her of his affection.” The next day Gardiner arrived with a large diamond as a gift from Mary. Philip reciprocated with a diamond of his own, though unfortunately it was noted to have been “considerably smaller.” Mary also sent “a very richly wrought poignard, studded with gems, and two robes, one of them as rich and beautiful as could be imagined.”
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Mary issued a proclamation summoning all those who were to attend the wedding:

At the Church of the Holy Rood in Southampton, which had been lavishly adorned for his visit with brocade, gold fabrics, and embroidered canopies, Philip heard Mass and gave thanks for his safe voyage. Later, at the house that had been prepared for him, he addressed the English councillors who had gathered there. He had come to live among them, he said, not as a foreigner but as a native Englishman, not for want of men or money but because God had called him to marry their virtuous sovereign. He thanked them for their expressions of faith and loyalty and promised that they would find him a grateful and loving prince. Then, turning to the Spanish nobles in his entourage, he expressed his hope that, as they remained in England, they would follow his example and conform to the customs of the country. As he finished speaking, he raised to his lips a flagon of English ale and drank farewell to the men who were gathered before him.
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Having spent the weekend resting in Southampton, Philip set out on the twelve-mile ride to Winchester, through pouring rain, escorted by a guard of a hundred men wearing his livery. About six in the evening, Philip entered Winchester, mounted on a white horse and wearing a rich coat of cloth of gold, a feather in his hat and dressed in a suit embroidered with gold, “the English and Spanish nobles, one with another, riding before him.”
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At the cathedral, amid a fanfare of trumpets and bell ringing, the bishop of Winchester, the lord chancellor, and five other bishops greeted him. After praying in front of the sacrament Philip was taken by torchlight to his lodging in the dean’s house to prepare for his first meeting with the queen.

At about ten in the evening, Philip walked through the gardens to the Bishop’s Palace, where he and Mary were to meet. Surrounded by three or four councillors and her ladies-in-waiting, Mary came out to the door of her chamber and “very lovingly, yea, and most joyfully received him.” She was dressed in a gown of black velvet over an underskirt of frosted silver adorned with magnificent jewels. Hand in hand they sat down and for about half an hour remained in pleasant conversation. Philip spoke in Spanish, Mary replied in French. Philip then rose and kissed the other ladies present, and his attendants kissed the queen’s hand. As he departed, he said, “Good night, my lords all,” in English, as Mary had just taught him to do.
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At three the following afternoon, the prince made his first public visit to the queen. Accompanied by a number of English nobles, he walked on his own behind them, “in a cloak of black cloth embroidered with silver, and a pair of silver hose.” Entering the courtyard of the Bishop’s Palace to the sound of music, he passed into the Great Hall, where Mary received him in the presence of the people. Taking him by the hand, she led him into the Presence Chamber, and there they talked for a quarter of an hour under the cloth of estate, “to the great comfort and rejoicing of the beholders.” Philip took his leave and went to Evensong at the cathedral, returning afterward to his lodging alone.

According to the Scotsman John Elder, who was present at court, Philip struck observers in England as the image of a true king:

It was a marriage that promised much, though it remained to be seen whether Mary’s hopes for both a political partnership and a personal union could be realized.

P
HILIP AND MARY WERE MARRIED ON JULY 25, 1554, THE FEAST OF
Saint James, the patron saint of Spain. It was a marriage intended to recast England in Europe and breed a new line of Catholic princes. And it was the first wedding of a reigning English queen.

The ceremony was one of unparalleled pomp and extravagance. Winchester Cathedral was decorated resplendently with banners, standards, streamers, and tapestries, all emblazoned with Spanish regalia. A raised wooden platform, covered with carpets, reached from the main door of the church to the choir, at its center a dais in the shape of an octagon, the setting of the solemnization of the marriage.
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The arrangements for the wedding were based on those of Mary’s mother’s marriage to Prince Arthur. The ceremony was to be traditional and performed in Latin by Bishop Gardiner, assisted by five other bishops, all attired in copes and miters.

At about eleven in the morning, Philip arrived at the cathedral, accompanied by many Spanish knights and wearing a doublet and hose of white satin, embroidered with jewels, and a mantle of cloth of gold—which Mary had sent him—ornamented with jewels and precious stones, together with the ribbon of the Order of the Garter that had been presented to him at Southampton.
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Half an hour later Mary arrived, dressed in a gown of white satin and a mantle to match Philip’s, which “blazed with jewels to an extent that dazzled those who gazed upon her.” On her breast she wore a piece of jewelry called “La Peregrina,” set with two diamonds, one the gift from Philip in June, the other from Charles V, which had previously been set in the ring given to the Portuguese princess Isabella, whom he had married after
breaking off his betrothal to Mary in 1525. Mary’s sword was borne before her—a sign that she was monarch—by the earl of Derby and the marquess of Winchester. The lord chamberlain, Sir John Gage, carried her train.

Once the full party had assembled, Don Juan Figueroa, regent of Naples, handed to Gardiner two pronouncements by which Charles V bestowed on his son the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan. Gardiner at once declared to the assembly, “it was thought the Queen’s Majesty should marry but with a prince; now it was manifested that she should marry with a King.”
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Then the banns were bidden in Latin and in English, with Gardiner declaring that if “any man knoweth of any lawful impediment between the two parties, that they should not go together according to the contract concluded between the both realms, then they should come forth, and they should be heard.”

According to the official account recorded by the English heralds, Mary was given to Philip “in the name of the whole realm” by the marquess of Winchester and the earls of Derby, Bedford, and Pembroke.
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The pair exchanged vows in Latin and English: “This gold and silver I thee give: with my body I thee worship; and withal my worldly Goods I thee endow.”
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Mary then pledged “from henceforth to be compliant and obedient … as much in mind as in body”—in direct contradiction to Gardiner’s insistence that in the marriage contract Philip must undertake to marry as a subject.
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And whereas Mary endowed Philip with all her “worldly goods,” Philip merely endowed Mary with all his “moveable goods.”
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Her wedding ring “was a round hoop of gold without any stone, which was her desire, for she said she would be married as maidens were in the old time, and so she was.”
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Philip and Mary then proceeded hand in hand under a rich canopy borne by six knights. At the choir, a psalm was sung while the king and queen knelt before the altar, a taper in front of each of them. They then retired to their canopied seats on the raised dais to listen to the Gospels, reemerging to kneel before the altar for Mass. The king of arms solemnly proclaimed Philip and Mary king and queen, declaring their titles and style:

Their joint style had been difficult to agree on. The English Council had strongly resisted Philip being named before the Queen, but he had insisted “that no law, human or divine, nor his Highness’s prestige and good name, would allow him to be named second, especially as the treaties and acts of Parliament gave him the title of King of England.”
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England was now part of a much larger European empire.