The Merry Monarch's Wife by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online

shown themselves so eager to stop the match will make the English realize how important they think it. That is all to the good.”
    As for me, my joy was complete, for I had received a letter from Charles. It had had to be translated, for it was in English, and I shall always treasure it. I know it by heart.
    It ran as follows:

    My Lady and Wife,
    Already, at my request, the Conde da Ponte has set off for Lisbon. For me the signing of the marriage has been a great happiness; and there is about to be dispatched at this time after him, one of my servants, charged with what would appear to be necessary; whereby may be declared on my part the inexpressible joy of this felicitous conclusion, which when received will hasten the coming of Your Majesty.
    I am going to make a short progress into some of my provinces; in the meantime, whilst I go from my most sovereign good, yet I do not complain as to whither I go; seeking in vain tranquillity in my restlessness; hoping to see the beloved person of Your Majesty in these dominions, already your own; and that, with the same anxiety with which, after my long banishment, I desire to see myself within them; and my subjects desiring also to behold me amongst them, having manifested their most ardent wishes for my return well known to the world.
    The presence of your serenity is only wanting to unite us, under the protection of God, in the health and contentment I desire. I have recommended to the Queen, our lady and mother, the business of the Conde da Ponte who, I must here avow, has served me in what I regard as the greatest good in this world, which cannot be mine less than it is that of Your Majesty…
    The very faithful husband of Your Majesty whose hand he kisses.
    Charles Rex
London, the 2nd of July, 1661

    It was the perfect love letter and I felt ecstatically happy.
    I am glad I did not know then that after he had written this, he went off to spend the night with the woman who was to prove one of my greatest enemies.
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    THE MARRIAGE TREATY had been ratified and it was my mother’s wish that in our court I should be known as the Queen of England. I emerged from my sequestered life as an unmarried Infanta and had a place beside my mother, my brother King Alfonso, and the Infante Pedro.
    â€œIt would be well to leave before the winter comes,” said my mother.
    But the winter came and still the Earl of Sandwich had not arrived with his fleet which was to take me back to England.
    It would be too late now to leave before the weather made the journey too hazardous. Christmas had come and gone and I was still waiting.
    â€œIt cannot be till spring now,” said my mother. She was anxious. The Spaniards were augmenting their forces on the frontiers. There had been so many delays. People were beginning to say the match would never take place.
    It was a time fraught with apprehension. I was glad I did not know to what ends my mother had to go to make sure we had had adequate defence against the enemy—but I was to learn of this later.
    I remember well that joyous day.
    It had been preceded by the deepest anxiety. Spring had come and Spanish ships were sighted off the coast. The attack was imminent.
    I could see the despair in my mother’s eyes. She had been so certain of her wisdom in keeping me as a wife for Charles as the means of saving my country; she had been so sure of success; and now it could be that, because of these delays, all her hopes were foundering. If the Spaniards attacked now we could not resist them. Would the King of England want to marry the daughter of a defeated country, a vassal to Spain? In any case, the King of Spain would not allow the match.
    I knew she prayed for a miracle—and her prayers were answered.
    Spanish ships were preparing to land when those of the English fleet, in the charge of the Earl of Sandwich, came to take me back to England.
    It was a triumph for us and defeat for the