Queen Henrietta Maria.
William Cavendish - Marquis of Newcastle. Amsterdam.
During the voyage William must have contemplated many things not least of which was how were they to live. He asked his steward how much money he had left. £90 was the reply. To add to his troubles, one of his boys contracted small pox and the other measles. Both recovered however. The party disembarked in Hamburg on the 8th July. Many left and went their separate ways. William was forced by financial necessity to send back some of his servants. This was a serious blow as it was important for him to appear to live well befitting of an English lord to gain sufficient credit to enable to live at all.
Eythin soon moved on to Stockholm where his reputation was high as a result of his previous service in the Swedish army. He received a peerage and a pension and died 8 years later.
News from England was not encouraging. York had surrendered 2 weeks after Marston Moor. William’s home at Welbeck, which was heavily fortified, had been surrendered to the Earl of Manchester. His wife and daughters were however safe with the Manchester giving assurances for their care and maintenance. Bolsover had also surrendered 10 days after Welbeck. William was the subject of much malevolent talk at court and the Parliamentarian pamphleteers made great play of his humiliation and hurried departure from England. Nevertheless he still enjoyed the confidence of the King and Queen. Henrietta Maria had herself been forced to flee to France from Exeter and she wrote him a charming letter in November assuring him of her continued respect and gratitude for his past services, signing it
“ Your very good and affectionate friend, Henrietta Maria.”
The King also wrote to William on the 28th November assuring him that he greatly appreciated and valued his service and still held him in
“ A very high degree of royal esteem”
The King pledged to recompense William for his losses should the Crown prevail and peace be restored. However no help was forthcoming in the short term to alleviate William’s distressed financial condition. Fortunately William’s credit in Hamburg was good and he was able to acquire 9 horses and a coach. In spite of this he was still in low spirits.
On the 4th February 1645. he wrote to the Prince of Wales congratulating him on his appointment as a general.
“After the great misfortunes and miseries I have suffered the first joy and only comfort I received was to hear of your Highness’s health and your being a general ... it is no small comfort to me and mine that we have lived to see you a man and could I but see peace in our Israel truly then I care not how soon death close my eyes. But whilst I crawl here in this uneven world your Highness must be troubled with me.”
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