In May, Henry and Katharine went to visit Prince Edward at Mary’s request, “but chiefly,” says Chapuys, “at the intercession of the Queen herself”. Henry gave Mary on this occasion full permission to reside at court, “and the Queen,” Chapuys adds, “has countenanced it with a good grace”. Mary had therefore no choice but to spend the next few months with her new stepmother, keeping outwardly on good terms with her, and presenting a strange contrast to her surroundings. When at last it suited Henry to have his eyes opened to Katharine’s outrageously loose conduct, his indignation, or that which passed for such, knew no bounds. During her trial, the palace at Hampton Court, where she was imprisoned, was so strictly guarded that none but certain officers could enter or leave it. Mary was sent away, and her father announced that he was heart-broken at the Queen’s immorality and perfidy. Anne of Cleves was thought by Chapuys to rejoice greatly at Katharine’s fall, but her execution caused little comment throughout the country. Either the people were indifferent to her fate, or they had become accustomed to the disgrace of Queens consorts. But for Mary there seemed no escape from tragedies. The block was never long absent from her life, which was often passed under its very shadow. When, in May 1541, the Countess of Salisbury was beheaded, under peculiarly aggravated circumstances, her goddaughter, on whose behalf she indirectly suffered, might well walk in terror. The axe had never before come so near Mary’s own head. Fear for her safety was universal. The Emperor shared the common apprehension, and was anxious to protect his cousin by seeming to be on especially good terms with her father. Chapuys therefore advised him no longer to address Henry as uncle, for the title only served to reopen old sores, and for the same reason, he thought it better to give up the word princess in addressing Mary. The King having now a son, it might be dropped without any loss of dignity, as it really implied heiress to the Crown, a title to which she had no longer any right.[248]