Edward during the later stages of the occupation of Wales, were no doubt factors of great assistance to Edward in bringing his Welsh policy to a successful conclusion. The following years of Eleanor’s life seem to have passed in much contentment in the midst of her numerous family. She still retained her custom of accompanying her husband on his travels, and undertook in his company another long voyage to France and probably to Spain. The memory of her domestic happiness is recalled by the traditions which still remain of the gaiety which distinguished the “Maiden Hall” at Westminster. The Queen, however, did not entirely escape trial and mental anxiety even in her relationship with her daughters. She keenly felt Edward’s decision that her daughter, Princess Mary, a girl aged 6, should take the veil and enter the great Benedictine nunnery of Amesbury. Edward seems to have been forced to this harsh decision by the masterful influence of the Queen Mother, Eleanor of Provence, who was living in retirement in this convent. The Princess Mary survived to the year 1332, and saw much of the trouble which subsequently befell the Royal House. Records remain which show that Edward allowed himself to relax from the severity of the warrior and the statesman in the domestic circle. His domestic relaxation seems to have been often of a boisterous character. There is, for instance, the story of the King being held in bed by seven of the Queen’s ladies and damosels on the morning of Easter Monday, 1290, till he paid them the fine of £14 expected on that day.[25] On another occasion, in the same year, Matilda of Waltham, stated to be the King’s laundress, wins a wager from the King by venturing to ride his horse, when he had gone hunting in Essex. The King recovered his steed by paying a fine of 40s. to the bold Matilda.[26] Footnote 25: Wardrobe Account 18 Edw. I, fol. 45b. Chancery Miscellanea 4/5. Footnote 26: Wardrobe Account 18 Edw. I, fol. 47b. Chancery Miscellanea 4/5. THE LAST YEAR OF THE QUEEN’S LIFE. The year 1290, however, was to be distinguished by events of far more serious import than the records of domestic happiness. Edward, secure in England, had reached, perhaps, the culminating point of a successful career. His judgment was appealed to and his advice followed in foreign lands; and the great political design of bringing about the union of the Scottish and English crowns, so often the dream of his predecessors, now appeared to promise a successful issue by the betrothal of Prince Edward to his cousin, Margaret of Norway,[27] the grand-daughter of Alexander III, and heiress to the Scottish throne. Eleanor’s influence must have been willingly exerted to bring about so happy a solution of the long drawn out Anglo-Scottish dispute. Footnote 27: The “Maid of Norway” was King Edward’s grand-niece, and first cousin “once-removed” to the Prince.