DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51519#0076
60
QUEEN CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA.
Portsmouth the 14th of May. But though suffering severely
from the effects of her voyage, Catherine remained on board till
the 20th, from a point of etiquette which did not allow her to land.,
or be seen by any but her women, till met by the King, who was
detained in London. Immediately on his arrival the marriage
ceremony was performed according to the Romish rite, by the
Lord Aubigny,* almoner to the Queen, in the presence of the
Portuguese ambassador, and two or three of her women. They
were afterwards married according to the Protestant church, by
Dr. Sheldon, bishop of London: but, on this occasion, Catherine,
as simple-minded as bigoted, refused to repeat the words of the
ritual, turned away her head poutingly, and would not even look
the bishop in the face. She insisted, however, on his solemnly
pronouncing- her the wife of the King’ before he quitted her
chamber.j'
This hasty and imperfect marriage was subsequently the occa-
sion of much scandal, and tended to embitter the after-life of
Catherine. Many affected to regard it as a mere contract, not
binding upon the King; and even to found on it additional reasons
for the divorce, which, in 1669, was seriously agitated \ and would
probably have been carried into effect upon slighter grounds, if
Charles had resembled his bluff ancestor Harry the Eighth.
It does not appear that the King was disappointed in the person
* Brother to the Duke of Richmond.
j- [The Earl of Sandwich gave the following account of the manner of the Pro-
testant marriage : —“ May 21, 1662, in the afternoon the King and Queen came
into the presence-chamber (at Portsmouth) upon the throne, and the contract
formerly made with the Portuguese ambassador was read in English by Sir John
Nicholas, in Portuguese by the Portuguese secretary De Saire; after which, the
King took the Queen by the hand, and (as I think) said the words o£ matrimony
appointed in the Common-Prayer, the Queen also declaring her consent. Then
the bishop of London (Sheldon) stood forth, and made the declaration of matri-
mony in the Common-Prayer, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
—Kraket's Chronicle. Sec Harris’s Life of Charles the Second, 2 vols. Svo.
1757.—Ed.]
QUEEN CATHERINE OF BRAGANZA.
Portsmouth the 14th of May. But though suffering severely
from the effects of her voyage, Catherine remained on board till
the 20th, from a point of etiquette which did not allow her to land.,
or be seen by any but her women, till met by the King, who was
detained in London. Immediately on his arrival the marriage
ceremony was performed according to the Romish rite, by the
Lord Aubigny,* almoner to the Queen, in the presence of the
Portuguese ambassador, and two or three of her women. They
were afterwards married according to the Protestant church, by
Dr. Sheldon, bishop of London: but, on this occasion, Catherine,
as simple-minded as bigoted, refused to repeat the words of the
ritual, turned away her head poutingly, and would not even look
the bishop in the face. She insisted, however, on his solemnly
pronouncing- her the wife of the King’ before he quitted her
chamber.j'
This hasty and imperfect marriage was subsequently the occa-
sion of much scandal, and tended to embitter the after-life of
Catherine. Many affected to regard it as a mere contract, not
binding upon the King; and even to found on it additional reasons
for the divorce, which, in 1669, was seriously agitated \ and would
probably have been carried into effect upon slighter grounds, if
Charles had resembled his bluff ancestor Harry the Eighth.
It does not appear that the King was disappointed in the person
* Brother to the Duke of Richmond.
j- [The Earl of Sandwich gave the following account of the manner of the Pro-
testant marriage : —“ May 21, 1662, in the afternoon the King and Queen came
into the presence-chamber (at Portsmouth) upon the throne, and the contract
formerly made with the Portuguese ambassador was read in English by Sir John
Nicholas, in Portuguese by the Portuguese secretary De Saire; after which, the
King took the Queen by the hand, and (as I think) said the words o£ matrimony
appointed in the Common-Prayer, the Queen also declaring her consent. Then
the bishop of London (Sheldon) stood forth, and made the declaration of matri-
mony in the Common-Prayer, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
—Kraket's Chronicle. Sec Harris’s Life of Charles the Second, 2 vols. Svo.
1757.—Ed.]