On this morning Catherine came from the apartments
of the Queen- Regent, closely followed by her two
brothers, King Alphonzo and Dom Pedro. Behind
them stepped, in a long and imposing procession, with
all the dignity and solemnity of a Portuguese function,
the grandees of the kingdom, the officers of the
household, and the Court nobles. Down the great
staircase of the palace they streamed, silent and stiff,
and into the Hall of the Germans.
At the staircase that leads to the chapel the Queen- mother met Catherine, who was in Portuguese national costume, with a huge farthingale of rich stuff, and who wore a long ungainly ostrich feather sticking stiffly and ungracefully from her hair. Catherine knew that this was their final parting. She asked permission to kiss her mother's hand, but this the Queen-Regent would not permit from the Queen of England. She embraced her daughter tenderly, and blessed her. Neither of them showed a trace of emotion, which would have been extremely uncomplimentary in their eyes to Catherine's husband and nation.
The ladies, and even the nobles, looking on, were so profoundly moved that they wept plentifully, in spite of Portuguese etiquette. An unknown poet, who appears to have sailed in the Royal Charles on purpose to chronicle the events of the voyage in verse, says of the fortitude of the two Queens :
Art conquered nature, state and reason stood
Like two great consuls, to restrain the flood
Of passion and affection, which ne'erless
Appeared in sad but prudent comliness.
A scene so solemn that the standers-by,
Both lords and ladies, did that want supply ;
In this great concourse every one appears
Paying a tribute to them in their tears.
The two Queens ended their long, silent embrace, and Catherine turned to her two brothers, who between them respectfully led her to her coach. As she reached it she turned back to her mother, who stood watching.
