John, of Austria, 1547-1578; Spain -- History -- Philip II, 1556-1598
The Constable of Castille and D. Francisco Baamonde came out to meet
them at Burgos, and accompanied them to Valladolid with a very brilliant
guard. At Cabezón, two leagues from Valladolid, the Emperor met Prince
Carlos; his grandson went to greet him with some gentlemen of his
household. The Emperor did not know this unfortunate Prince, who was
afterwards so tragically celebrated, and was very pleased to see him. D.
Carlos was then eleven, and as the day was rather cold had put on a very
richly lined doublet, which, according to a letter from Francisco Osorio
to Philip II, suited him very well, and His Highness looked a
"foreigner." The bravery of his attire, however, could not hide the
Prince's feeble frame, or the notable disproportion of his head to the
rest of his body. His grandfather and the two Queens gave him their
hands to kiss, which the Prince did very politely and respectfully. But
the first moment of shyness passed, the boy returned to his usual
restlessness and self-will, and began to make a noise and upset the room
with very little respect for those great personages. And seeing a
portable stove, which served to warm the Emperor's room during the
journey, a thing then unknown in Spain, he asked his grandfather to give
it to him. This was refused, and, the child still persisting, the
Emperor, almost angry, said sternly, "Be silent, D. Carlos. After my
death you will have time to enjoy it." It did not please the Prince that
the Emperor and the two Queens talked French among themselves, as they
usually did, as he could not understand this language, which drew down
upon him another reproof from his grandfather, who told him very
severely that his was the fault for having taken so little pains to
learn it.
Meanwhile the good Queen Elinor begged her brother to tell the child
something of his campaigns; this the Emperor gladly did, and the Prince
listened with great attention. But when he referred to his flight from
Innspruck before the Elector Maurice, the Prince interrupted him
abruptly and disrespectfully, saying that he should not have run away.
The grandfather laughed at his grandson's outburst, and explained that
want of money, finding himself alone, and the state of his health had
obliged him to make this flight.
"It does not matter. You ought not to have run away." His persistence
amused the Emperor, who went on arguing, "But if your own pages wished
to seize you and you were alone among them, you would have to run away
to escape from them." "No," said the Prince proudly and with anger, "I
should never run away." The Emperor laughed at this haughty persistence,
which pleased him, but he was not altogether very well satisfied with
the heir to the throne, as he said to his sister, the Queen of France.
"He seems very noisy, and his manner and temper please me little. One
does not know what may become of such a hot-tempered youth."
CHAPTER IX
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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