The idea of his marriage with Elizabeth appears first to have come from some of his Piedmontese subjects, naturally anxious that the succession to his ancient throne should be secured. Writing from London in September, 1554, one of his ambassadors says that if he were authorised to do so, he would propose the match to King Philip. In any case, some communication seemed to have passed between Philip and the Savoy ambassadors on the subject, and when Emmanuel Philibert arrived in London early in January, the question was further discussed. It was a match that would have suited Philip admirably, and he was prompt to adopt the idea. Emmanuel Philibert himself was in no mood for wooing, for the French had just captured another of his fortresses, Ivrea, and it seemed to him politic to keep himself free to marry a French princess, if necessary, as the price of his restoration to his domains. Nor were the obstacles in England to his marriage with Elizabeth slight. To begin with, the Queen was opposed to her sister’s marriage at all without the consent of Parliament, which would certainly refuse to authorise a foreign match for the Princess, and especially to a dispossessed Prince under the influence of the Emperor. Nor did the Queen wish to give to Elizabeth the additional importance and power which would accrue to her from her marriage with a sovereign. Philip, if we are to believe Michaeli, was somewhat afraid of his wife, and did not dare to press her too far in the matter “as she had a terrible and obstinate temper.” To the King’s Confessor, therefore, was entrusted the task of winning over Mary. After much trouble he persuaded her so far as to get her to promise to speak to the King about it the next evening. This she did not do, and it was believed that Pole had in the interval dissuaded her. The opposition from Elizabeth was even more decided. She was quite resolved, she said, neither to marry nor to leave England. On the part of Savoy also the terms proposed by Philip were held to be quite out of the question, including as they did the cession to Spain of the fortresses of Nice and Villafranca, in case any children were born to Emmanuel Philibert and Elizabeth. It will be seen, therefore, that at this time the match was never probable, and though Savoy was lodged in Elizabeth’s palace, Somerset House in the Strand, the Princess herself was not even brought from her seclusion at Woodstock to see him.[86] Emmanuel Philibert, impatient to be gone, left England, though not empty-handed, to resume his turbulent career after a three weeks’ stay.