SPELTHORNE HUNDRED 



screams unmoved. This strange scene her unquiet 

 spirit is supposed to enact over and over again, and 

 her screams are said to have been heard by several 

 ladies who at different times inhabited the neigh- 

 bouring apartments. 194 The great objection to the 

 story seems to be that Katherine was not informed 

 of the charges against her until after Henry had 

 left the palace. Marillac mentions particularly 

 that he maintained an unmoved demeanour and 

 left Hampton Court ' secretly.' Even if Katherine 

 suspected what was going on it was not likely, 

 until the circumstances were made public, that the 

 guards would have dared to use force to prevent 

 the queen from entering the king's presence. 



Nothing seems to have changed Henry's affec- 

 tion for the place. He returned there in December 

 1541 after Katherine had left, and he was there in 

 the summer of I 542, entertaining at different times 

 both the Imperial and French ambassadors,' 94 

 when an offensive and defensive alliance was sworn 

 between the king and the emperor on Trinity 

 Sunday (May I542). 196 Chapuys wrote to the 

 Queen of Hungary in December following that 

 some slight advantages gained against the Scots had 

 rejoiced the king, who had 'continually shown 

 himself sad ' since he heard of the conduct of his 

 last wife, and ' nothing has been said of banquet 

 or of ladies, but now all is changed, and order 

 already taken that the Princess (Mary) shall go to 

 court at this feast, accompanied with a great 

 number of ladies ; they work day and night at 

 Hampton Court to finish her lodging. It is 

 possible that amidst these festivities the king might 

 think of marrying, although there is yet no bruit 

 of it." 97 



Henry chose to return to Hampton Court with 

 his last bride, Catherine Parr, widow of Lord 

 Latimer.* 98 Their marriage took place ' in an upper 

 oratory called the Quyne's Pryvy Chapel ' on 

 12 July 1543. The ceremony was performed 

 by Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, in 

 the presence of about twenty witnesses, including 

 the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. 299 Christmas 

 of that year was spent at Hampton Court, and on 

 the Sunday before Christmas Eve the queen's 

 brother, Lord Parr, was created Earl of Essex, and 

 Sir William Parr, her uncle, Lord Parr of 

 Horton. 300 The ceremony is described at much 

 length how 'the king went to his closet to hear 

 high mass ' and the new peers ' went to the 



HAMPTON 



pages' chamber, which was strawed with rushes, and 

 after sacring of high mass, when the king was 

 come into the chamber of presence under cloth of 

 estate, the Earl of Essex was led into the chamber 

 under cloth of estate, by the Marquis of Dorset 

 and the Earl of Derby, Viscount Lisle bearing the 

 sword, and Garter the Letters Patent, which were 

 read by Mr. Wriothesley.' The usual ceremonies 

 then took place, and the Baron (Lord Parr of 

 Horton) was afterwards led in by Lords Russell 

 and St. John, Clarencieux (in default of a baron) 

 bearing the robe, and Garter the Letters Patent, 

 which were read by Mr. Pagette. The new earl and 

 baron afterwards dined in the Council Chamber,* 01 

 and their styles were proclaimed. 308 



On Christmas Eve, after the court had attended 

 grand vespers in the chapel, a chapter of the order 

 of the Garter was held, and Sir John Wallop was 

 made a member of the order. 3Uj There is also an 

 account of Sir Thomas Wriothesley being created 

 Baron Wriothesley at Hampton Court on I Jan- 

 uary I544. 804 



The Earl of Surrey was among the knights who 

 attended the chapter on this occasion, and it must 

 have been about this time that he first fell in love 

 with the ' fair Geraldine,' as he says in the famous 

 sonnet giving the ' Description and Praise of his 

 Love ' : 



Hampton me taught to wish her first for mine. 

 In another poem he speaks of 



The large green courts where we were wont to 



hove (hover) 

 With eyes cast up into the maiden's tower. 



Surrey, whose picture, attributed to Holbein, is 

 in the palace, was at this time about twenty-five 

 years of age, and had been married at the age of 

 eighteen to Lady Frances Vere. Lady Elizabeth 

 Fitzgerald, who has been identified as the ' fair 

 Geraldine,' belonged to the Princess Mary's house- 

 hold, and was then only about fourteen. 305 



The Christmas festivities were carried on into 

 the following week, when the king received in 

 state ' Ferdinand de Gonzaga, Viceroy of Sicily, 

 Prince of Malfeta, Captain-General of the Chivalry 

 and Army of the Emperor Charles,' who came in 

 pursuance of the alliance sworn between the king 

 and the emperor the year before, 306 to arrange 



B< Law, op. cit. i, 223-4. Mrs. Rus- 

 sell Davies, the well-known spiritualist, 

 visited the Palace for the special pur- 

 pose of 'interviewing' the ghosts of 

 Katherine Howard and Jane Seymour. 

 See her amusing account of these 

 stances in Borderland, iv, 425, (1897). 



L. and P. Hen. fill, xvii, 363, 

 371, 500; xviii, 44. 



Ibid. ; Hall, Chron. 857 ; -vide 

 Law, op. cit. i, 288-9. It is impossible 

 here to enter into the questions of 

 policy which caused some jealousy 

 between the ambassadors. 



W L. and P. Hin. VIII, xvii, 1112. 



298 The plague was so bad at this 

 time that a proclamation was issued at 

 Hampton Court July 1543, forbidding 



Londoners from entering the gates of 

 any house ' wherein the king and queen 

 lie,' and forbidding servants of the court 

 to go to London and return to court 

 again. L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, 886. 



m L. and P. Hen. fill, xviii, 873 

 (from the original notarial certificate at 

 the Record Office). 



800 G.E.C. Complete Peerage, iii, 284; 

 vi, 191; Hall, Chran. 859. Sir William 

 Parr was chamberlain to his niece in 

 1543. He died in 1546. The peerage 

 became extinct. 



sol T ne rooms mentioned were 

 chiefly those built by Henry himself, 

 and afterwards destroyed by Wren. 



< L.and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, 516. 



808 See ante, p. 337 ; L. and P. 



339 



Hen. VIII, xviii, 517 ; Curtis, Reg. of 

 Order of the Garter, i, 437-9 (ed. 

 1724). 



" L. and P. Hen. VIII, xix (i), i. 



805 Law, Hist. Ha-npnn Court Palace, 

 i, 232. Surrey's picture gives a fair 

 idea of the magnificent dress of 

 the courtiers of Henry VIII. It was 

 probably painted by Holbein's imitator, 

 Guillim Stretes. The picture is en- 

 graved in Fairholt, Cattume ; also in 

 Law, op. cit. i, 233. Surrey was 

 executed on a charge of high treason 

 in 1547- 



8 L. and P. Hen. VIII, xviii, 603. 

 May 1543. Treaty dated Feb. 1543 

 (though it is said to have been arranged 

 the previous summer). 



