At midday, when the councils had retired and taken their places on the
line of route, a flourish of drums and pipes heralded the coming of the
Spanish Guard in orange and scarlet to the monastery, followed by the
German Guard, in crimson satin and gold with white sleeves and plumed
caps; {88} then came the municipality of Madrid, with a great following
of town officers dressed in orange satin with silver spangles. Nobles
and princes followed in pairs, led by Prince Edward of Portugal and the
Count of Villamor, each pair of high gentlemen resplendent in satin,
velvet and gold, jingling and flashing on their showy Andalusian
horses. Following these and a hundred other ostentatious groups, the
mention of which would fill pages, King Philip left his palace as the
great clock in the courtyard--one of the marvels of Madrid--struck the
hour of one, and reached a side door of the monastery in his coach by a
circuitous route. Until three o'clock Charles and Philip chatted in
friendly converse, and then the signal was given for the cortege to
start, the King and Prince mounting their horses at the same moment.
The drums, pipes, clarionets, and trumpets led off followed by judges,
officials, courtiers, and nobles, heralds, guards, pages, lacqueys, and
grooms by the hundred, upon whose grand dresses Soto y Aguilar dwells
with tedious minuteness. Then came the King and the Prince, under a
canopy of white damask and gold, mounted upon silver poles borne by six
officers of the corporation, the Prince riding on the right hand of his
host. They must have looked a gallant pair, for they were mere youths,
and both fine horsemen. Olivares and Buckingham side by side followed
them, and then came a great troop of Spanish grandees with the English
ambassadors and officers. Through the streets, decked lavishly, and
crowded with cheering people, flattered at the coming conversion of
England by means of Spain the cavalcade rode {89} by the Puerta del Sol
and Calle Mayor to the ancient Alcazar upon the cliff, which looks
across the arid plain to the snow-capped Guadarramas. On the line of
route national dances and the eternal comedies were played until the
Prince approached, when special dances were performed in his honour, at
which, we are told, he was much delighted. Upon entering the palace
the King himself conveyed the Prince to his apartments, and surpassed
himself in courtly welcome to his guest; and that same night the Queen
sent to the Prince a great present of white linen for table use and
personal wear, with a rich dressing gown and toilet paraphernalia in a
scented casket with gold keys.[2] It was all as Howel wrote, "a very
glorious sight to behold, for the custom of the Spaniard is, tho' he go
plain in his ordinary habit, yet upon some great festival or cause of
triumph there's none goes beyond him in gaudiness."[3]