[3] Rupert Transcripts. Declaration of the Prince Elector.
[5] Forster's Eminent Statesmen. 1847. Vol. VI. pp. 80-81
[6] Von Raumer's History of England in 17th Century. III. p. 330.
[7] Cal. Dom. State Papers, 13/23 Feb. 1645. Chas. I. DVI. f. 43.
[9] Cal. Dom. State Papers. Jermyn to Digby, 12 May, 1645.
[10] Anne of Austria, Queen Regent of France.
[12] Memoirs of Anne de Gonzague. Ed. Sénac de Meilhan. Memoirs of Cardinal De Retz, and of Mademoiselle de Montpensier.
[13] Bromley Letters, p. 127, 28 Nov. 1645.
[15] Soeltl's Elizabeth Stuart, 1840. Bk. IV. Chap. 7, pp. 402-403.
[16] Strickland's Elizabeth Stuart, p. 209.
[20] Bromley Letters, p. 136. Elector to Elizabeth, Jan. 9, 1646-7.
COMMAND IN THE FRENCH ARMY. COURTSHIP OF MADEMOISELLE. DUELS WITH DIGBY AND PERCY
Sometime before the end of the war the Queen of England had fled to France, and had set up her court at that home of Royal exiles,--St. Germains! There she had been joined by her son, the Prince of Wales, and by many English Cavaliers; and thither went Rupert in July 1646. "If thou see Prince Rupert," wrote King Charles anxiously to his wife, "tell him that I have recommend him unto thee. For, albeit his passions may sometimes make him mistake, yet I am confident of his honest constancy and courage, having at the last behaved himself very well."[1] Henrietta, convinced by her husband's words, or forgetful of the reproaches she had so recently heaped upon her nephew, received Rupert graciously, and to the Prince of Wales he was of course very welcome.
Nor was his reception at the French court less cordial. The Queen Regent, impressed by his romantic history and famous courage, showered marks of her favour upon him; and Mazarin, the true ruler of France, at once offered him a command in the French army, "upon whatever conditions of preferment or advantage he could desire."[2] Rupert hesitated to accept the flattering offer, without his Uncle's sanction. "Prince Rupert had several assurances by the mouth of the Duke of Orleans, Cardinal Mazarin and others, of the charge of the foreign forces mentioned in my last," says a letter in the Portland MSS., "but I am informed { 214} he defers to accept the commission of it, until he hears his Uncle, the King of Great Britain, doth approve it; which deference is well taken here."[3]