Page:The Queens of England.djvu/141

 ISABELLA OF FRANCE. 1 19 tion of the nuptials at Boulogne, he at once assented to it, and hastened away from Scotland, where he was, and where his presence was imperatively necessary for fixing finally on his head the crown of that kingdom for which his father had sc long and sternly fought. He had already recalled his fatal favorite Gaveston, and even with the most astounding imprudence appointed him guardian of the realm in his absence. This done, he set sail at the very earliest possible hour, on January 22nd, 1308, with the queen dowager, Marguerite, for Boulogne. There, his bride, accom- panied by her royal parents and a more splendid assemblage of princes and nobles than had ever before been collected on such an occasion, had arrived before him. The next day, being the festival of the Conversion of St. Paul, the nuptials were cele- brated with unexampled magnificence in the celebrated cathe- dral of that city. Besides the King and Queen of France, the parents of the bride, there were present, Louis, King of Na- varre, the bride's brother, their mother having resigned that kingdom to his rule ; the King and Queen of the Romans, the King of Sicily, the Archduke of Austria, Marie, the Queen Dowager of France, and Marguerite, the Queen Dowager of England, the aunt, and now about to become the mother-in-law of the bride. The beauty of the royal pair is celebrated by the writers of the time, as filling all the spectators with admiration. Edward was regarded as the handsomest man in Europe, and Isabella, though still a mere girl, had by her beauty already won the name of Isabella the Fair. Flattering, however, as were all the externals of this scene — there lay inwardly all the elements of discontent, tempest, and ruin. The physical beauty of the young king concealed only a mind weak as water, and so con- stituted as to become the willing prey of aspiring and showy favorites ; that of Isabella, a soul full of tiger-passions, before which, honor, principle, and humanity were as stubble in the whirlwind. These ostensibly happy but doomed persons were married on the 25th of January, and on the 7th of February, after great festivities, they embarked for England, and landed at Dover the same day. ■ Amongst those who waited to welcome the young couple to their kingdom, was the king's favorite, Piers Gaveston, whom Edward, the moment he saw him, flew to, and embraced in the