If matters go on as they have begun, the Palace will be as full of dissension as the rest of France. Every day the discords between the Princes increase, even between those who ought to be most closely united by the ties of blood and kindred. Alençon cannot keep quiet: he is on the watch for an opportunity to upset the Government, and will probably end by attempting some notable _coup d’état_. Some suspect him of even aspiring to the throne. It is all the Queen Mother can do to keep him from throwing off his allegiance. Not that she wishes to humiliate him, for she is very fond of him, and anxious to advance his interests in every way. Possibly in this she has an eye to her own advantage, in order to gain Alençon’s protection against his brother’s power, in case her influence over the King should ever diminish. There is also no love lost between Alençon and the Duke of Guise. The former is supposed to have some secret understanding with the Huguenots, and people think that he was privy to the attempts recently made on a number of towns, in which some of his friends lost their lives. His confidant in all his designs is his sister, who is on bad terms with the King and the new Queen. For the matter of that, she does not stand well with her husband, the Duc de Vendôme; there are strange stories about her. Paris, July, 1575. LETTER XXVI. On the 18th of this month the Queen started for Amboise. On her departure from Paris the King accompanied her to the gates of the city, and his brother, Vendôme, and Guise somewhat further, while the Duke of Lorraine with the Cardinal of Este, the Duc de Mayenne, the Duc d’Aumale, and the Marquis de Nomeny escorted her to the village[92] where she dined. As I was sitting at table there with the Duke of Lorraine and the Cardinal of Este, each of them spoke much of their affection for your Majesty and the great honour that had been done them in being chosen, the one to escort the Queen on her journey, and the other to receive her as his guest. The Duke of Lorraine told me that in three or four days he was returning home to make the necessary preparations for the Queen’s arrival; he is also afraid of disturbances arising in his absence, there being a very general report in Paris that 2,000 German reiters are coming, who are to make their way in light marching order through Burgundy and Switzerland to join Damville, and that more will shortly follow, as 8,000 have been hired. This is the topic of general conversation, and the military preparations which the King has been making show that he regards the news as well-founded. On the 24th of the same month we arrived at Amboise, where I saw your Majesty’s grand-daughter. The child is not yet quite three years old, is by no means bad looking, though more like her father than her mother, and is of a very merry disposition.[93]