Series 3 > Foreign correspondence with Marie de Lorraine, Queen of Scotland, from the originals in the Balcarres papers > Volume 7

xviii
BALCARRES PAPERS
more fitted for the position which the Queen Dowager
wished her to occupy. De I’Aubespine,1 in another
letter of the same year, told a story which proved the
King’s affection for the little Queen : Henri n., on
campaign, had just received the portraits of his children
and one of Mary Stuart which was entirely admirable, and
the writer endeavoured to steal the picture to send it to
Marie de Lorraine, but it was too much of a novelty and
the King loved it too well to part with it.
From the time of her arrival in France, Mary Stuart had
lived with the King’s children under the charge of their
governor, M. d’Humieres, until 1550, and, after his death,
of Claude, Seigneur d’Urfe. Although apart from the
Court, their establishment was not settled in one place ;
the itinerary of the early years of her residence in France,
given in part by De Ruble,2 shows that there was a con¬
siderable amount of movement, which, as it gave rise to
some inconvenience, proved troublesome to the Queen
of Scots and her private attendants. It is hinted by
De la Brousse 3 on one occasion that these might not
always be easy to please : ‘You know the nation,’ he
wrote, ‘ wherefore I need say no more.’ This may have
contributed towards the friction which is seen in the house¬
hold after the first few years, but there was also rivalry
between the Queen of Scots’ personal attendants and those
of the royal children, shown in a letter written by Mary’s
nurse, Jean Sinclair,4 in which she complains bitterly of
her treatment and those with whom she was forced to
associate. In 1552 De 1’Aubespine explained 5 to Marie de
Lorraine how the King had decided that the Dauphin and
Mary Stuart should in future accompany the Court, an
arrangement bound to bring alteration in the existing
establishment; he added that, when the King saw the
1 Letter XCVIII.
3 Letter XXII.
2 Premitre Jettnesse, pp. 253-7.
4 App. B, IV. 6 Letter C.