Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [115]
Mary had commissioned a suit to be made for Philip’s entry into Winchester and for the wedding itself, together with hangings for the royal bed embroidered with the arms and devices of Spain and England. Some 350 Englishmen had been selected as Philip’s household officers, among them individuals who had supported Mary in July 1553, such as John Huddleston. All had been assembled before the chamberlain of the royal household and asked to swear an oath of allegiance, and they, together with a hundred archers who were to join the guard Philip brought with him, now traveled to Southampton to await the prince’s long-anticipated arrival.2
Finally, on June 16, Mary and her entire court set out from Richmond for Winchester and there took up residence in the Episcopal Palace of Bishop’s Waltham, which had been specially prepared ahead of her arrival.
The decision to hold the wedding ceremony outside London had been driven by fears of disorder in the capital. Rumor and discontent were rife. Seditious prophecies were published in London to the effect that Philip’s delay in embarking for England was caused by his reluctance to marry Mary and that the Spaniards would not let him come.3
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.”4 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.”5 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
Item: when his Highness enters the kingdom, he will be well-advised to caress the nobility and be affable, show himself often to the people, prove that he wishes to take no share in the administration, but leave it all to the Council and urge them to be diligent in the exercise of justice, caress the nobles, talk with them on occasion, take them out to hunt with them. If he does so, there is no doubt whatever that they will not only love his Highness, but will adore him.
Item: it will be well to show a benign countenance to the people and lead them to look for kindness, justice and liberty.
Item: as his Highness knows no English it will be well to select an interpreter and have him among his attendants so that he may converse with the English. And let his Highness endeavour to learn a few words in order to be able to salute them. Then, as time goes on, he will be able to decide what he had better do in order to achieve his purposes.
Item: no soldiers from the ships must be allowed to land here, in order not to confirm the suspicion inculcated by the French, that his Highness wishes to conquer the realm by force.6
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,