In May Christina's alarm was aroused by an intimation from the French Court that the King was going to Nancy to celebrate his daughter Claude's wedding with the Duke, and occupy the capital of Lorraine. Fortunately, Vaudemont opposed this measure, saying that as Regent he had sworn never to give up his post until his nephew was of age, and begged the King to allow Charles to return to Nancy and take possession of his State before his marriage.[514] This unexpected firmness on Vaudemont's part produced the desired effect. Henry's journey to Lorraine was put off for a year, and at the Duchess's urgent request the Cardinal of Lorraine obtained the King's leave to bring the boy to meet her at the Castle of Coucy, near his own house at Péronne. But when Philip was asked to give the Duchess permission to cross the frontier, he made so many irksome conditions, that Henry withdrew his promise, and the long-desired meeting was again deferred. Christina was cruelly disappointed, and could only take comfort from Vaudemont's assurances that before long her son would be free from control and able to decide for himself.[515] [Sidenote: OCT., 1556] MARY'S JEALOUSY] Philip on his part was extremely anxious to keep the Duchess at Brussels. As Brantôme tells us, the King not only cherished great affection for his cousin, but relied implicitly on her tact and wisdom, and, in compliance with his entreaties, she consented to remain at the palace and do the honours of his Court.[516] Her popularity with the nobles made her presence the more desirable, while the King himself found her company far more to his taste than that of the faded and fretful wife who awaited him in England. Every post brought bitter reproaches and passionate prayers from the unhappy Queen, whose hopes of her lord's return were doomed to perpetual disappointment. Already more than a year had passed since he had left England, and there still seemed no prospect of his return. First the peace conferences, then the King of Bohemia's visit and the Emperor's departure, were pleaded as excuses for these prolonged delays. When the fleet that bore the Emperor to Spain was seen off Dover, the Admiral who visited His Majesty on board, brought back messages to say that the King would shortly cross the Channel. On hearing this, Mary's spirits rose, and it was only by Philip's express desire that she refrained from going to meet him at Dover. In October the royal stables and equerries arrived, but Philip himself wrote that the war which had broken out in Italy between Alva, the Viceroy of Naples, and Pope Paul IV., compelled him to return to Brussels. Then Mary broke into a passion of rage mingled with sobs and tears, and shut herself up in her room, refusing to see any visitors. The dulness of the Court had become intolerable; there were no fêtes and few audiences, and the Ambassadors with one accord begged to be recalled. The Queen's ill-temper vented itself on all who