Mary Tudor - Anna Whitelock [133]
Philip and his retinue stayed at Canterbury for several days, awaiting good weather and the arrival of Flemish ships at Dover. Men were out on the road nearly every hour, carrying letters between the king and queen, and messengers waited about the courtyard of Greenwich Palace night and day, “booted and spurred ready for a start.” As Michieli reported, “the Queen not content with having sent two of her chief chamberlains in the King’s company for the purpose of being acquainted with all that takes place, writes to him daily in her own hand, and despatches courtiers, demonstrating in every way her great desire.”5 But Philip wrote less and less. When Michieli had an audience with the queen on September 13, she told him “very passionately with tears in her eyes, that for a week she had had no letters from him [Philip].”6 Meanwhile, Michieli’s informant described how Mary mourned as if grief-stricken, “as may be imagined with regard to a person extraordinarily in love.”
The Queen remains disconsolate, though she conceals it as much as she can, and from what I hear mourns the more when alone and supposing herself invisible to any of her attendants. During this absence Cardinal Pole will reside with her, lodgings having been assigned to him in the palace, that he may comfort and keep her company, Her Majesty delighting greatly in the sight and presence of him.7
In letters to Philip, Pole recounted how Mary spent her day, passing “the forenoon in prayer after the manner of Mary [Magdalene], and in the afternoon admirably personates Martha, by transacting business.”8
Two weeks after the king’s departure, Simon Renard left England. With Philip’s arrival, his confidential relationship with the queen had ended. He had asked to be recalled, but Charles had refused, replying that he must stay in England to give Philip the benefit of his considerable knowledge of “the condition of affairs” derived from his long residence there.9 By March 1555, Renard was given leave to depart. Mary said of him in a letter to Charles V, “He was here with me through very dangerous times and that he showed himself during the marriage negotiations to be a most indispensable minister, inspired by the greatest desire to serve us and the greatest zeal for my affairs.”10 She presented him with more than 1,200 ounces of plate as a token of gratitude.11
Having arrived at court for the queen’s confinement in late spring, Elizabeth remained with Mary until the autumn. By September, Noailles observed, she was “more in favour than she used to be, going every day to mass with the Queen and often in her company.”12 In mid-October, she obtained leave to withdraw and left the court for Hatfield. At the same time many of Philip’s household servants, soldiers, and pages also began to withdraw, “with a mind,” Michieli noted, “not to revisit this country for a very long while.”13
By December, all those who remained were instructed to join the king in the Low Countries. Federico Badoer, the Venetian ambassador to the emperor, reported:
The King’s confessor [Alfonso de Castro] has arrived here, and repeated a variety of foul language uttered by the English, indicating their ill-will towards his Majesty and the Spanish nation [and says] that on seeing him and the rest of the attendants depart, they made great rejoicing well-nigh universally; and he goes saying that the Queen’s wish again to see the