A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



office in which he was confirmed by Charles II 

 almost immediately after his restoration. 683 



Charles II made a great many alterations in the 

 palace," 4 and frequently went backwards and for- 

 wards between Hampton Court and Whitehall, 

 riding down early in the morning to play tennis, 

 and returning the same day." 5 From 1662 to 

 1667 many applications for offices about Hampton 

 Court were made to the Crown. The ' House- 

 keeper of Hampton Court,' the ' Keeper of the 

 Standing Wardrobe,' ' Keeper of the Still House,' 

 ' Keeper of the Game about Hampton Court,' are 

 a few of the coveted titles. 685 One claimant, 

 Clement Kynnersley, Yeoman of the Wardrobe of 

 Beds, seems to have been afraid that his services 

 would not be sufficiently appreciated. He not 

 only claimed 7,000 for ' arrears of salary,' but 

 declared that ' he had, by his exertions, preserved 

 500,000 worth of His Majesty's goods together 

 at Hampton Court from sale and embezzlement.' 16 ' 

 Edward Progers, Groom of the Bedchamber to the 

 king, received a great many of these appointments, 

 chiefly of privileges granted in and about Hampton 

 Court. He rebuilt the Upper Lodge in Bushey 

 Park, spent 4,000 on it, 68 * and had some diffi- 

 culty in getting a warrant for the payment of the 

 amount. 689 De Grammont declares plainly what 

 the extremely equivocal services were for which he 

 was thus rewarded by the ' Merry Monarch.' 69 



The marriage of the king and Catherine of 

 Braganza took place at Portsmouth on 21 May 

 i662, 691 and they arrived at Hampton Court on 

 the zgth. 5 " Their progress, judging from the 

 contemporary etchings by Dirk Stoop, must have 

 been stately and dignified. They probably alighted 

 at the foot of the Great Hall Stairs under Anne 

 Boleyn's Gateway, and in the Great Hall itself 

 were received by the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, 693 

 the Lord Treasurer, and the Councillors of State. 



In the Presence Chamber they were met by 

 the foreign ministers, the peers, and the lords and 

 ladies of the court, who came to do homage to 

 the new queen. 594 The Duchess of York also 

 came by barge from London, and was received at 

 the ' Privy Garden Gate ' by the king himself. 596 

 Two days after, John Evelyn the diarist records 

 th.it he was taken by the Duke of Ormonde to be 



presented to the queen, and saw her dining in 

 public.' 9 * 



Like Henrietta Maria before her, and in the 

 same place, Catherine suffered on account of her 

 retinue, who were quite unable to adapt themselves 

 to their gay surroundings, 497 and were described by 

 de Grammont as ' six frights . . . and a Duenna, 

 another Monster.' 698 



At first, however, the king and queen amused 

 themselves with entertainments out of doors, balls, 

 plays and music indoors. Evelyn gives an account 

 of their going on the river in a gondola, a present 

 from the state of Venice, and on another occasion 

 mentions ' the Queen's Portugal music, consisting 

 of fifes, harps, and very ill voices.' He also de- 

 scribes the queen's bed, ' of embroidery of silver 

 on crimson velvet, and cost 8,000 a present 

 from the States of Holland . . . and the great 

 looking-glass and toilet of beaten and massive gold 

 given by the Queen-Mother. The Queen also 

 brought over with her from Portugal such Indian 

 cabinets as had never been seen here.' 599 Pepys 

 was also much struck by the ' noble furniture.' M0 

 His diary and other records are full of gossip con- 

 cerning occurrences at Hampton Court, 601 and he 

 expressed the discontent of the people at the length 

 of time during which ' the King and new Queen 

 minded their pleasures at Hampton Court.' 60> As 

 it happened in the palace it is necessary to mention 

 the insult Charles was weak enough to offer the 

 queen, by unexpectedly bringing the notorious 

 Lady Castlemaine into her presence before the 

 whole court. 60 * The scene ended in the utmost 

 confusion, for the queen fainted, and afterwards 

 maintained her absolute refusal to receive Lady 

 Castlemaine. Clarendon has described all that 

 followed, 60 ' and to his own dishonour was persuaded 

 by the king to use his influence with the queen, 

 not only to receive Barbara Palmer, but to make 

 her a Lady of the Bedchamber. For some time 

 Catherine persisted in her refusal, and Clarendon 

 says that ' Everyone was glad . . . they were still 

 at Hampton Court and that there were so few 

 witnesses of all that passed. The Queen sat melan- 

 cholic in her chamber in tears, except when she 

 drove them away by a more violent passion in 

 choleric discourse ; and the king sought his diver- 



iM Cal. S.P. Dam. Chas. II, 1660-1, 

 p. 174. 



M The accounts for these alterations 

 may be seen in Harl. MSS. no. 1618, 

 1656, 1657, and 1658, Dec. 1663, 

 printed in Law, op. cit. App. D j S.P. 

 Dom. Chas. II. Ixi, 41 ; Cal. Treat. Bks. 

 i, 1660-7. 



Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, App. 

 168 (8) ; Marshall, Annals of Tennis, 89 ; 

 Pepys, Diarv, 4 Jan. 1664 ; see also 

 account of Gardens, pp. 380 et seq, 



586 S.P. Dom. Chas. II, cxjcxvii, 145; 

 clxxxviii, 69, &c. 5S ? Ibid, xxii, 171. 



i8a He was appointed Keeper of the 

 Middle or North Park in reversion after 

 the Duke of Albemarle ; Hist. MSS. 

 Cam. Rif. xv, App. ii, 304. 



S.P. Dom. Cha.. II, Ixxxvi, 78 ; 

 cii, 27 ; cv, 125. 



ijt) De Grammont, Memoirs, 217 (ed. 

 1906), 231 n. 



591 Cal. Treas. Bks. i, 376. 



6M Heath, Cbron. 509 ; Echard, Hist. 

 Engl. iii, 8. There is a series of seven 

 plates by Stoop, a Dutch engraver, illus- 

 trating Catherine of Braganza's progress 

 from Lisbon to Hampton Court and 

 London. A set of these etchings is in 

 the Sheepshanks Collection at the Brit. 

 Mus. 



a93 From Lord Sandwich's journal it 

 seems possible that Lord Clarendon was 

 prevented from being present. 



591 Journ. of Lord Sandwich ; White 

 Kennet, Hist. Engl. (ed. 1728), 699 ; 

 Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, 144 et seq. 



595 Strickland, Life of Catherine oj 

 Braganza (ed. 1851), v, 520-1. Miss 

 Strickland had access to unpublished 

 Portuguese documents. 



596 Diary, 31 May 1662. 



s '7 Clarendon, Autobiography (ed. 

 1760), ii, 80 ; Law, op. cit. ii, 212 et 



356 



seq. ; Strickland, Lives of the Queens of 

 Engl.(eA. ^51), v, 537-8. 

 698 De Grammont, op. cit 109. 



599 Evelyn, Diary, 9 June 1662. 

 There are some Indian cabinets still 

 in the state apartments, but whether 

 they were Queen Catherine's is not 

 known. 



600 Diary, 12 May 1662. 



601 Ibid. 22 June 1662, &Q.; Estcourt 

 & Payne, Engl. Catholic Non-Jurors oj 

 1715, f . 342. 



108 Note at end of diary for June. 



608 Barbara Villiers married Roger 

 Palmer, who became Earl of Castle- 

 maine. She was created Duchess of 

 Cleveland by Chas. II. 



6M Autobiography, ii, 80-6; Letters of 

 Philip, second Lord Chesterfield, 1 22 ; 

 Secret Hist, of Chas. II, i, 447. See 

 letter from Charles to Clarendon, dated 

 at Hampton Court. 



