Lives of the last four princesses of the royal house of Stuart

1652.] Buckingham's peesumption. 51
The faithful servants of the King, her brother, were
grieved and indignant at the presumption of the Duke of
Buckingham in presuming to aspire to the hand of the
Princess-royal, after his return from sharing the un-
successful enterprise of Charles II. to regain the throne of
Great Britain. Sir Edward Hyde writes anxiously on
the subject to his colleague, Nicholas.
"Deae Mpv. Seceetaey,
" I had never any speech with the King about that
wild pretence you mention of the Duke of Buckingham.
But I have reason to believe he hath heard of it, and
abhors it sufficiently, but takes no notice of it, upon con-
fidence that his sister disdains it. I have often had con-
ference with the King concerning the man, and find that
he knows him as well as needs be. And no doubt that
the Queen is traduced in that report you have heard of
her, approving it ; for besides the folly and madness of
it, I know that she said once upon the discourse, that if
she thought it possible for her daughter to have so base a
thought, she would tear her to pieces with her own
hands."*
The report died away, and Buckingham, perceiving that
he only^ lost his time, desisted from his vain attempt
to win the fair royal widow.
The youngest brother of the Princess, Henry, Duke of
Gloucester, had remained in melancholy solitude at
Carisbrook Castle, after the untimely death of his beloved
sister Elizabeth, with no other attendants than his faith-
ful tutor, Mr. Lovel, and that wholly unnecessary function-
ary, a barber. Cromwell, jn the 17th of February,
procured a vote from the Parliament, " that Henry Stuart,
* Clarendon's ' State Tapers,' vol. iii. p. 53 . Paris, this 2nd of March,
1652.
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