Catherine de MEDICIS (1519-1589), Queen of France from 1547 - Lot 44

Catherine de MEDICIS (1519-1589), Queen of France from 1547 to 1559. Letter signed with 18 autograph lines, addressed from Boulogne on July 29, 1568 to Monsieur de Fourquevaux, ambassador to Spain. 1 page in folio. "Mons. de Fourquevaux, le Roy Monsieur mon fils a advisé (...) pour entendre la vérité du passage du Roy Catholique mon beau-fils en Flandres dont il est quelque bruit de ça (...) que je désiriment infiniment d'en être éclairci (...) laisser un homme de biens qui nous soit fidèle et que vous connaissiez propre pour ses effets, pour suivre le roy mon beau-fils en son voyage lequel vous puisse en écrire et mander des nouvelles." And from his hand: "I told the ambassador this morning that the common rumor was that the king of Spain, his master, was passing through Spain, and that I believed it, he wanted to persuade me that he was not. I told him that you asked me when to ask the Queen, my daughter, and Ruy Gomez for an answer, that he thought it was necessary that he sometimes passed through, but that he didn't know when. And to tell you from the look on his face, I think he'll be there and that he'll want to get to Flanders sooner than we thought. So keep an eye out for him, and beware of him pretending to go on his little trips, so that he doesn't embark one morning without you knowing, and leave it to the Queen my daughter to tell you when he's on the eve. This is my opinion.