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  that accompanied the infanta's departure began. The difficulty of obtaining the necessary dispensations from a pope who had refused to recognise the independence of Portugal rendered it politic to omit the ceremony of a proxy marriage (, iii. App. No. ccxxxviii.;, p. 801, is wrong), though Catherine had long been styled in Lisbon the queen of England. Off the Isle of Wight the Duke of York boarded the Royal Charles and was received with great state by Catherine in her cabin, dressed in the English style (Letters of Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield, p. 21).

On 13 May the fleet reached Portsmouth. Charles was still detained in London by the need of proroguing parliament, if not by the charms of Mrs. Palmer (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661-2, p. 370). On the third day after her landing Catherine fell sick of a cold and slight fever, so that when Charles arrived at Portsmouth in the afternoon of 20 May he found her still confined to her bed. She absolutely insisted on a catholic ceremony, and only after seeing her did Charles consent to this step (Clarendon State Papers, Appendix xx.; cf., Life of James II, i. 394). Accordingly, on 21 May, a catholic wedding service was performed with the utmost secresy in Catherine's bedchamber, while later in the day a mutilated public ceremony, after the rites of the church of England, was performed by Sheldon, bishop of London, in the presence chamber of the royal palace (Quadro Elementar, xvii. 258; Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe, pp. 142-5).

Catherine had received an education which wholly incapacitated her for her position. Not only had she been left in entire ignorance of all affairs of state, but her general education had been so limited that she was even unable to speak French (, p. 534, speaks, however, of her English studies). For a long time Spanish was the only means of communication between her and her husband. She had hardly left the royal palace ten times in her life, and though amiable, dignified, and in a quiet way attractive, the only positive trait that observers could find in her was a simple and childish piety that consumed her time in the routine performance of her religious duties, and sought by pilgrimages to favourite saints to express her thanks to heaven for her advancement to be queen of England (Maynard to Nicholas, 19-29 July, in, iii. App. No. lxxv.) Pepys thought her 'a greater bigot than even the queen-mother.' The gaieties and amusements of fashionable life had, however, a strong hold on her. She was passionately addicted to dancing, though her figure prevented her from ever excelling in that accomplishment; and was equally attached to the more exciting pleasures of the masquerade, to cards and to games of chance. A famous stroke of luck, by which she won over a thousand to one at a game of faro, was unprecedented until the days of Horace Walpole, and she scandalised Pepys by playing cards on Sunday (Diary, 17 Feb. 1667). Her retired life had resulted in a certain want of tact in small points that soon gave occasion for gossip. It was complained that she had dealt illiberally with the crew of the Royal Charles (, 24 May 1662). Her adhesion to Portuguese fashions and dresses excited both odium and ridicule at court (see, Life, but cf. Quadra Elementar, xvii. 259-60). As her character developed in a very unfavourable environment, she became, when circumstances allowed, proud and exacting. On occasion she gave so much trouble to her attendants that Evelyn moralised on the slavery of courtiers (Diary, 17 June 1683; cf. Hatton Correspondence, i. 64, Camden Society). The financial difficulties in which she was often involved in her early married life engendered in her extreme parsimony. She schooled herself to play her difficult part, not without success, and to discipline a temper naturally warm and impatient. In a court abandoned and licentious to the last degree no one ventured to hint that her conduct was not in all respects correct.

In person Catherine was of low stature, 'somewhat taller than his majesty's mother' (Maynard to Nicholas,, iii. App. No. lxx.) 'Her face,' Charles told Clarendon, after he had first seen her, 'was not so exact as to be called a beauty, though her eyes were excellent good, and there was nothing in her face that in the least degree can disgust one' (Lansdowne MS. 1236, f. 124, partly printed in ). Lord Chesterfield, her chamberlain, speaks of her appearance in a very similar strain ( Letters, p. 123). Her long and luxuriant hair was her chief adornment, even when twisted into extraordinary shapes by her Portuguese hairdresser. Her teeth 'wronged her mouth by sticking a little too far out' (, ii. 190, ed. 1827). Her voice was low and agreeable. 'If I have any skill in physiognomy,' her husband said, 'she must be as good a woman as ever was born,' and Pepys admitted that, 'though not overcharming, she had a good modest and innocent look that was pleasing' (Diary, 7 Sept. 1662, cf. 31 May).

The first few weeks after the marriage nearly everything looked promising (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661-2, p. 393), though