''London's Love to Prince Henry'' (31 May 1610), was a pageant on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

organised by the city of London for the investiture of

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. This pageant was performed on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

between Chelsea and Whitehall. It was organised by the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

, and written by

Anthony Munday Anthony Munday (or Monday) (1560?10 August 1633) was an English playwright and miscellaneous writer. He was baptized on 13 October 1560 in St Gregory by St Paul's, London, and was the son of Christopher Munday, a stationer, and Jane Munday. He ...

who subsequently published an account of the spectacle. Fireworks costing £700 were provided by Roger Dallison of the

Royal Ordnance Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammunition ...

. Prince Henry's barge coming from

Richmond Palace Richmond Palace was a royal residence on the River Thames in England which stood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Situated in what was then rural Surrey, it lay upstream and on the opposite bank from the Palace of Westminster, which w ...

encountered Corinea, Queen of Cornwall ( John Rice), at Chelsea riding on a whale. She declared London's love for him. Next at

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

, Henry met Amphion, a Genius of Wales, (

Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (c. 1567 – 13 March 1619) was an English stage actor, widely considered to have been one of the most famous actors of the Globe Theatre and of his time. In addition to being a stage actor, he was also a theatre owner, ent ...

), riding a dolphin, who bid the Prince farewell. Musicians were concealed in the whale and the dolphin. The mayor and the guilds followed the prince in fifty barges. Corinea wore a "watrie habit yet riche riche and costly, with a Coronet of Pearles and Cockle shelles on her head." Amphion was "a grave and judicious Prophet-like personage, attyred in his apt habits, every way answerable to his state and profession, with a wreathe of Sea-shelles on his head, and his harpe haging in fayre twine before him."

Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Frederick Ulrich (German Friedrich Ulrich, 5 April 1591 – 11 August 1634), Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, was prince of Wolfenbüttel from 1613 until his death. Life Frederick Ulrich was the son of Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel a ...

nephew of

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

, was among the audience and passengers on the prince's barge. The following Monday a water-fight and fireworks night was planned, and announced by the appearance of

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus (; Ancient Greek: Πρωτεύς, ''Prōteus'') is an early prophetic sea-god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" ''(hálios gérôn)''. ...

. This event was rained off, but on 5 June 1610 the aquatic theme continued with the court masque ''

Tethys' Festival ''Tethys' Festival'' was a masque produced on 5 June 1610 to celebrate the investiture of Prince Henry (1594–1612) as Prince of Wales. Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, was made Prince of Wales in June 1610. Among ...

''. There was tilting on the afternoon of Wednesday 6 June. Lord Compton disguised himself as a shepherd in a bower designed by

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

and a Scottish lord made a pageant device of a cloud. The delayed sea fight took place that evening. A Turkish pirate ship defending a castle engaged with two merchant ships. The merchants came under fire from the pirate castle, then two warships assisted, many sailors appeared to be killed and thrown in the sea, and finally the pirate castle was blown up in a firework display. John Noyes, Member of Parliament for

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs h ...

, compiled an account of the festivities for his wife, including material which he "received by hearsay". Noyes thought that Compton's disguise as a shepherd might refer to the wealth of his father-in-law Sir John Spencer, founded on woollen cloth. He was impressed by a description of the rockets on 6 June, powerful enough "to fly up into the air twice so high as

St Paul's tower St Paul's Tower is a skyscraper located on Arundel Gate in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Construction commenced in May 2006 and the building was topped out in August 2010, surpassing Sheffield University's Arts Tower as the tallest buil ...

and when it was highest it would stream down again as long as bellropes, and the fires did seem to fight and skirmish one with another in the skies; which was very pleasant to behold in the dark evening".S. C. Lomas, ''HMC Manuscripts in Various Collections: Cleverly Alexander'', vol. 3 (London, 1904), pp. lxxi, 263 modernised here.

References

* Anthony Munday, ''London's love, to the Royal Prince Henrie meeting him on the river of Thames, at his returne from Richmonde, with a worthie fleete of her citizens, on Thursday the last of May'' (London, 1610). * David M. Bergeron, 'Creating Entertainments for Prince Henry's Creation (1610)', ''Comparative Drama'', vol. 42, No. 4 (Winter 2008), pp. 433–449.

External links

Medieval and Early Modern Orients: Thames Pageants and Thomas Sherley: Real versus Imagined Anglo-Ottoman Encounters
{{DEFAULTSORT:London's Love to Prince Henry 1610 plays Masques European court festivities English Renaissance plays 1610 in England 17th century in London History of the City of London