The feeble August breeze barely stirred the air and Elizabeth had to discreetly mop at her brow as she stood on the docks at Bristol.
She bitterly regretted her decision to come and greet this particular ship herself and, had it been carrying any other visitor, she might have given up her dockside vigil, retreated inside to the cool of Bristol Castle and left her noblewomen to greet its passengers, but this was no ordinary ship. It carried in its cabins the Magdalene Lucretia Orsini, sent all the way from Rome to try the Princess of Wales' marriage. It was only fitting that such an eminent visitor be greeted with all honour. And besides, Elizabeth was eager to meet Her Eminence away from the pressures of the ecclesiastical court at Ludlow. She wanted to gauge the other woman's personal re
