The King was
not of the party. He had gone with Richelieu to Fontainebieau,
leaving it to the Queen and the Queen-Mother to accompany his
sister.
Buckingham missed no chance upon that journey of pressing his
attentions upon Anne of Austria. Duty dictated that his place
should be beside the carriage of Henrietta Maria. But duty did
not apply to His Insolence of Buckingham, so indifferent of whom
he might slight or offend. And then the devil took a hand in the
game.
At Amiens, the Queen-Mother fell ill, so that the Court was
compelled to halt there for a few days to give her Majesty the
repose she required. Whilst Amiens was thus honoured by the
presence of three queens at one and the same time within its
walls, the Duc de Chaulnes gave an entertainment in the Citadel.
Buckingham attended this, and in the dance that followed the
banquet it was Buckingham who led out the Queen.
Thereafter the royal party had returned to the Bishop's Palace,
where it was lodged, and a small company went out to take the
evening cool in the Bishop's fragrant gardens on the Somme,
Buckingham ever at the Queen's side. Anne of Austria was attended
by her Mistress of the Household, the beautiful, witty Marie de
Rohan, Duchess of Chevreuse, and by her equerry, Monsieur de
Putange.
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