It will be seen by this that the plan was to use every atom of the force raised in England and with English money, not for the defence of the country itself, which had been the first pretext for raising it, but to send across the sea, either to aid in the recovery of Calais or, at Philip’s option, for any other purpose he might choose, and that similarly the fleet was to be placed at his disposal.[127] It is quite plain from the way in which Feria writes of her that Mary was simply to be told what to do by Philip, and that she was expected to do it without demur. How completely she hung upon Philip’s words, and subordinated everything to his wish, is seen in a paragraph in the same letter as that quoted above from Feria to the King. A Swedish envoy had arrived in England with an offer of marriage to Elizabeth from Prince Eric, the heir to the crown. He had been already several days in London and had not even asked audience of the Queen, though he had committed the gross breach of propriety of going down to Hatfield and delivering the Prince’s letter to Elizabeth before he saw Mary. The poor Queen was terribly upset at this; and hearing that Feria was despatching a courier to Antwerp, she feared that he was going to write to Philip about it. Sending for Feria she with tears and reproaches upbraided him for his supposed intention, and said that she herself was going to write to her husband telling him all about it. “When the ambassador from Sweden first came,” writes Feria, “she was in great trouble, fearing that your Majesty would blame her for not having carried through that affair last year [_i.e._, the marriage of Elizabeth with Savoy]. Since then, however, Madam Elizabeth has replied that she will not marry; and the Queen is more tranquil, but she is intensely impassioned in the matter; and one of the reasons for her grief at the pregnancy having turned out fallacious is the fear that it will cause you to press her in this other business [_i.e._, the marriage of Elizabeth]. Both Figueroa and I think that your Majesty ought to do so _apropos_ of the coming of this Swedish ambassador and the failure of the pregnancy. But it is necessary that such pressure should not come at the same time as the matter of the land armament, or it will upset the business altogether. In short, Sire, I believe that the Queen will not stand in the way of her [_i.e._, Elizabeth] being Queen if God does not send you children.”[128]