Before leaving Bruges the emperor made his will on the 22nd of May 1522, arranging that if he died in Flanders his body was to be buried at Bruges, near his grandmother Mary of Burgundy. He then bade farewell to Margaret and set out for England, sailing from Calais, with a gorgeous retinue of a thousand horse and two thousand courtiers, and landing at Dover towards the end of May, was welcomed by Wolsey in his master's name. It had been arranged that King Henry should meet the emperor on the downs between Dover and Canterbury; but to show him greater honour the king rode into Dover, and after together inspecting the English fleet, which was duly admired by the emperor and his train, the two monarchs made a triumphal progress through Canterbury, Sittingbourne, and Rochester to Gravesend. From Gravesend the splendid processions rowed in royal barges to Greenwich. At the entrance door of the palace Queen Katharine stood awaiting her nephew, surrounded by her ladies, and holding little Princess Mary by the hand. The emperor, kneeling on one knee, then asked for his aunt's blessing, which was readily granted, and from henceforward for six weeks his visit to England was a continual round of feasting, dancing, hunting, masquerading, and splendid entertainments. But amidst all this hospitality his thoughts were mainly fixed on Spain, and as he wrote to Margaret, 'the six weeks seemed a thousand years.' Whilst Charles was at Greenwich a messenger arrived from France bearing a letter to King Henry, in which Francis I. bade defiance to the King of England. The letter was handed to the emperor for his perusal, who must have rejoiced at its contents, for now he and his uncle could join forces against their common enemy France; and soon after an eternal friendship was solemnly sworn between them upon the Sacrament in Saint George's Chapel, Windsor, and an abiding alliance in peace and war cemented by Charles's betrothal to his cousin Mary Tudor. Glittering pageants in London and Windsor, where Charles was made a Knight of the Garter under his uncle's presidency, brought his visit to a close, and on July the 6th the emperor set sail once more for the port of Santander.[82] [82] Martin Hume, _Wives of Henry VIII._, and _Rutland Papers, The Somers Tracts_ (Camden Society). A few weeks later an Anglo-Belgian army, under Florent d'Ysselstein, Count of Buren, invaded Picardy, whilst the Earl of Surrey's fleet hovered off the Norman coast, and threatened all French shipping in the Channel. Margaret meanwhile was busily employed in harrowing the Duke of Gueldres, whose troops appeared before Leyden, and pillaged the village of La Haye. The States of Friesland upheld the regent in her endeavours, but it was not until June the 4th, 1524, that a truce was concluded with Gueldres, and peace restored.