Prince Charles's farewell to the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, 1623
Illustration by Mary Lightbody Gow (1851-1929) from a special edition history of England published in 1903. Info from wiki: When negotiations began to drag, Prince Charles, now 22, and Buckingham decided to seize the initiative and travel to Spain incognito, to win the Infanta directly.[27] Travelling under the names Thomas and John Smith, they arrived in Madrid on 7 March 1623 (OS) to the astonishment of Philip IV, and of the English Ambassador, John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol, who had been given no warning of the Prince's intentions. Charles and Buckingham were ignorant of the key facts, that Maria Anna was strongly averse to marrying a non-Catholic, and that the Spanish, who had been protracting the marriage negotiations to keep British troops out of the war, would never agree to such a match unless James and Charles pledged to repeal the anti-Catholic Penal Laws.[28] Though a secret treaty was signed, the Prince and Duke returned to England in October without the Infanta. There was open delight shown by sections of the British people
Size: 2909px × 3483px
Photo credit: © Historical Images Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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