Soto served D. John in the Moorish campaign and in that of the Mediterranean against the Turks, and was present at and studied and, so to speak, saw the internal workings of the great glories and triumphs which in so short a time made D. John the terror of the Moor and Turk, the hero of Christendom, the man of Providence, the "John sent from God," that the Pontiff, at all costs, wished to see settled on a throne. Soto was as captivated by D. John's real merit as Quiroga had been. The offer of Albania and Morea seemed to him the most natural thing in the world, and the promise of Gregory XIII to give D. John the Kingdom of Tunis the just payment of a debt, and the most sure and certain way of planting the Empire of the Cross in Africa. But the fact was that the offer of these crowns did not have the same effect on Philip II, Ruy Gómez or Antonio Pérez. D. Philip was full of jealousy of D. John, not, as some have alleged, because he envied D. John—he was much too great to envy anyone—but because these plans frustrated his policy, and, above all, threatened to take away from him that strong and brilliant instrument with which he had accomplished such glorious enterprises, and counted on accomplishing more in the future. He wished to keep his brother all to himself, flying as high as he wished or could, but always subject to Philip's will, and without other ideas of his own or those of other people besides his brother's. Ruy Gómez died on the 27th of July, 1573, when the drama began to unfold, but Antonio Pérez remained heir to his favour and power, and master of the King's ear, and chief of the party erstwhile led by the Prince. His jealousy of D. John, for different reasons, was very unlike Philip's. The secretary counted on the King never allowing his brother to wear a crown. He had seen for a long time that D. John's brilliant victories and applauded triumphs were separating him more and more from the peaceful policy of his (Pérez's) party, and feared that, disappointed, D. John would join the party of the Duque de Alba, more in sympathy with his own warlike tastes, or create a following for himself, which, given his personal popularity and the great help he could count on in Rome, might well absorb and annihilate all other parties.