[1625–28.]

The death of James I. and the succession of Charles, Prince of Wales, to the English throne, at the commencement of the year 1625, excited the greatest uneasiness at the court of France, where all parties were alike anxious for the arrival of the papal dispensation. Nor was the new monarch himself less desirous to complete the contemplated alliance; as only three days were suffered to elapse after the demise of his royal father ere he hastened to ratify the treaty, and to make preparations for its immediate fulfilment.

On the arrival of the long-expected courier from Rome, the dispensation was delivered into the hands of Marie de Medicis, by Spada, the papal nuncio; and on the 8 th of May, the Duke de Chevreuse, whom Charles had appointed as his proxy, signed the contract of marriage, conjointly with the Earl of Carlisle and Lord Holland, who officiated as ambassadors extraordinary from the court of St. James'. At the ceremonial of the marriage, which took place on the 11th of May, the difference of religion between the English monarch and the French princess compelled the observance of certain conventional details which were all scrupulously fulfilled. The Cardinal de la Rochefoucault, Grand- Almoner of France, pronounced the nuptial benediction on a platform erected before the portal of Notre-Dame; after which the Duke de Chevreuse and the English ambassadors conducted the young Queen to the entrance of the choir, and retired until the conclusion of the mass, when they rejoined Louis XIII.