The Spanish ambassador tells King Henry VII that Spanish custom forbids him from seeing the face of his future daughter-in-law. He can’t help but laugh as the King wrestles with the concept.

>Word of the royal cavalcade had preceded them, and it was hardly noon when they were met by the familiar figure of Don Pedro Ayala [**the Spanish ambassador to England**], cantering briskly on a delicate errand. The Archbishop of Santiago and the Princess’s duenna, the formidable Doña Elvira Manuel, had held a hurried council on the news of the English King’s approach and had decided to interpret the final instructions of [Catherine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Catherine_aragon.jpg)’s parents with Castilian rigidity. Catherine was to observe all the customs of a high-born Spanish bride: until the final benediction had been pronounced at her wedding, not even her future husband was to raise her veil or see her face. Knowing [Henry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/King_Henry_VII.jpg), Ayala delivered the ultimatum with an inner chuckle. >Gnawing his underlip, trying in vain to read the twinkle behind the Bishop’s eyes, Henry heard him out, then swung his horse’s head towards a field beside the road, barking over his shoulder, “My lords, a council!” Was there, after all, some trickery hidden here? Did the Spaniards expect him to buy a pig in a poke? >At Henry’s command Ayala put the case again to the wary half-circle of mounted men. With all the formality of Westminster, Henry called for advice. A buzz of whispers ran from saddle to saddle, questioning less the law than the meaning of this contingency; then the King’s council gave its unanimous opinion: “The King of England is absolute lord in his own realms; no foreign law or custom can restrain him there. The Princess of Spain, by her marriage to his son, is already one of his subjects; he may dispose of her as he likes.” >”Thank you, my lords,” said Henry, “we shall meet at Dogmersfield.” He shot off at a gallop, the laughing Ayala spurring after him, leaving the bridegroom, the council, and the glittering train to follow at a more dignified pace. __________________________________ **Source:** Mattingly, Garrett. “Part I: A Spanish Princess (1485-1509); Chapter 2, Section ii” *Catherine of Aragon*. New York: Quality Paperback , 1990. 35-6. Print. __________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Don Pedro de Ayala / Pedro López Ayala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_de_Ayala) [Doña Elvira Manuel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvira_Manuel) [Catalina de Aragón (Catherine of Aragon)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon) [Harri Tudur / Henry VII of England](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VII_of_England)