In 1554 Philip II., not yet a sovereign, married Mary of England. The union was arranged by his father, Charles V., and for a time the prince lived in England with his bride. He was, however, called upon to attend the Emperor in Flanders, and was absent from Mary until 1557, when he again visited England. His stay was a brief one, for he was summoned in less than four months to the Netherlands. In the following year Queen Mary died. Upon the accession of Elizabeth to the throne of England, Philip of Spain received her assurances of amity. Not many weeks after the burial of Mary, Philip directed Feria, his ambassador in England, to propose, on his behalf, a matrimonial as well as a political alliance with Elizabeth. The queen replied that she must consult Parliament upon the subject, and that ‘should she be induced to marry, there was no man she should prefer to him.’ Philip wrote an affectionate letter to Elizabeth, declaring that he longed for the success of his ambassador’s mission. The Protestant Reformation, which swept over England, was, however, a sufficient bar to the marriage of Philip and Elizabeth. Philip expressed his disappointment when the final answer was received from England, but he still protested his friendship for Elizabeth, and hoped that amicable relations would continue between the two nations. In 1559 Philip married the Princess Elizabeth of France. It had been proposed that the princess should marry Don Carlos, the son and heir of Philip; but, for diplomatic reasons, it was considered more expedient that Elizabeth, who was only fourteen years of age, should wed with the king. The proposal came from France, and in reply to it, the Spanish envoys avowed that ‘notwithstanding their master’s repugnance to entering into wedlock, yet, from his regard to the French monarch, and his desire for the public weal, he would consent to waive his scruples and accept the hand of the French princess with the same dowry promised to his son Don Carlos.’ Tragedy attended the wedding festivities of Philip and Elizabeth of France. In the course of a tournament, arranged by Henry, father of the princess, a challenge was sent by that monarch to Lord Montgomery, a Scottish nobleman and captain of the king’s guard, renowned for his feats of arms. The queen begged the king to refrain from the encounter, but Henry commanded the unwilling Montgomery to prepare for the combat. At the first encounter the Scot pierced the visor of his opponent; the lance splintered, and a piece of it penetrated the eye of the king, who was borne from the arena by his attendants seriously wounded and unconscious. For ten days he lay in pain, and died on July 10, 1559, of his injury. His queen, Catherine de Medici, thus saw the fulfilment of her foreboding when she vainly besought the valorous Henry to abstain from further jousting.