After the whole party had attended the Te Deum at Irun the journey south began, though not before a desperate fight for precedence had taken place between the Duke of Osuna and the Marquis of Astorga, a struggle that was renewed on every opportunity until the Duke was recalled to the King’s side. Long ere this the young King’s impatience to meet his bride had over-ridden all the dictates of etiquette, and he had started on his journey northward on the 23rd October, before even Marie Louise had entered Spain. To one of those witty French ladies who, at the time, wrote such excellent letters, we are indebted for invaluable information on the events of the next two years, and the letters of Mme. de Villars, wife of the French ambassador, will furnish us with many vivid pictures. Writing from Madrid the day before Marie Louise entered Spain (2nd November 1679) Mme. de Villars says: ‘M. Villars had started to join the King, who is going in search of the Queen with such impetuosity that it is impossible to follow him. If she has not arrived at Burgos when he reaches there, he is determined to take the Archbishop of Burgos and go as far as Vitoria, or to the frontier, if needs be, to marry the Princess. He was deaf to all advice to the contrary, he is so completely transported with love and impatience. So with these dispositions, no doubt the young Queen will be happy. The Queen Dowager is very good and very reasonable, and passionately desires that she (Marie Louise) should be contented.’[290] As the royal couple approached each other, almost daily messages of affection and rich gifts passed between them. First went from Marie Louise a beautiful French gold watch, with a flame-coloured ribbon, which she assured the love-lorn Charles had already encircled her neck. On the 9th November she reached Oñate, where she passed the night, and sent from there a miniature of herself on ivory set with diamonds, and with this went a curious letter,[291] now published for the first time, touching upon a subject which afterwards became one of the principal sources of Marie Louise’s troubles in Spain. The letter is in Spanish, and in the Queen’s own writing, a large, bold hand, full of character. The Queen told Balbeses in Paris that she had learnt Spanish in order to talk it with Queen Maria Theresa, but did not speak it much. The present letter was probably, therefore, drafted or corrected in draft before she wrote it (perhaps by Mme. de Clarembant, who spoke Spanish), as there are no serious errors of syntax in it.