Three weeks later, the visit of Philip’s heroic young cousin, Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, was an occasion for further festivities of the same sort, although the occasion of his coming was in itself far from a festive one. The Prince was in command of the Emperor’s army, but in the clash of great empires he feared that his own smaller interests were going to the wall, as indeed they were. The war had prevented him from accepting the invitation to Philip’s wedding; but in September, 1554, he had sent an embassy headed by Count Langosco to London to pray Philip to intercede with the Emperor for him. Much of his paternal territory was occupied by the French; he had no money even to pay the garrisons of Nice and the other fortresses that remained to him, and he foresaw the possibility that when France and the Emperor made peace Savoy might be left in the hands of the former. Philip was amiable but indefinite in his reception of Savoy’s embassy in London. A commission was sent to invest the Duke with the Order of the Garter, and kind assurances of regard were exchanged, but Savoy wanted more than that, and when his troops were in winter quarters he managed with difficulty to raise enough money to run over personally, in the last days of the year 1554, to see his cousin Philip and his English wife for the purpose of urging his own suit. It is usually assumed that the primary object of his visit was to offer his hand to Princess Elizabeth, but such was not the case.[85] His handsome presence and the fame of his military exploits made him an attractive guest at Mary’s Court, and both the King and Queen were very favourably impressed by him, Philip, indeed, to a great extent acceding to the demands that brought him to London.