viernes, 27 de julio de 1554

Edad:
27 años

Carta de Ruy Gomez de Silva a Francisco de Eraso desde Winchester

I have already written to you about his Highness's arrival in England, but I do not wish to fail to send another line or two to assure you that our marriage has gone off admirably, and that so far we appear to be welcome. True it is that we are beginning to hear something of the ill-will and discord that are rife among the lords and councillors here. We had heard accounts of it before coming hither, but now we are here every man hopes to put his wishes into effect and leaves no stone unturned in his pursuit of means to do so. Indeed, they do not go about it cautiously, for some of them have tried to make use of me; and when I hear their accounts of certain events in the past I see that they are all bent on heaping the blame on each other's shoulders.

There is another very troublesome question. Before his Highness arrived here, they had a household ready for him with all the officials high and low, a master of the horse and a chamberlain, gentlemen of the chamber and so forth and so on, and a guard of one hundred archers; and they intend that his Highness shall pay for all this without any part of the expense being met by the Queen. I fear there was some inadvertency here on the ambassador's part and our own, for the officials who have been appointed by the Queen and her Council are already in attendance on the King and Queen, and if one of our number tries to do anything they take it ill and will not allow it. His Highness intends to set this matter to rights by ordering the two households (i.e. the Spanish and English) to be combined, and to serve him together; but as for the cost there is no use in wasting time on regretting it, for it would only make matters worse if we made difficulties about the arrangements concluded by the Queen and Council; so the money must be found, and his Highness means to do it.

Still, I think it was a mistake not to tell them at the beginning that the Prince was bringing his own officials, and even if the constitution of an English household was inevitable, it might have been delayed until after his arrival. However, I trust all will go well; for the English seem pleased with us, and we are all doing our best to satisfy them.

The Queen is a very good creature (muy buena cosa), though rather older than we had been told. But his Highness is so tactful and attentive to her that I am sure they will be very happy; and Our Lord will see to the rest, as He has done so far wherever this affair was concerned.

Let me know whether you want your money entrusted to some one here or in London. I did not like to risk sending it with the money that is going to his Majesty, for I thought that now it is out of danger of the deep it would be as well not to expose it once more to the same risks. His Highness is well and very much pleased with his Majesty's gift of Naples. Don Rodrigo is in a hurry to start, so I will say no more. 

Holograph. Spanish.

Fuentes

Simancas, E.808.

Calendar of State Papers, Spain, Volume 13, 1554-1558

Edited by Royall Tyler.

Published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1954.

 

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