Christophe de Harlay, Count of Beaumont
Beaumont came to England in November 1601 to advise on maritime issues and subsequently replaced the resident French ambassador, Monsieur de Boissise.
[2] In July 1602 his wife attended Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace and gave her maids of honour gifts of French purses, fans, and masks.
Some allies of James had told him she was cruel and ambitious, fort cruelle, bròuillonne et sanguinaire, and hoped to rule Scotland through her son Prince Henry after the death of her husband.
[9] According to the Venetian diplomat Scaramelli, Beaumont managed to upset King James with an unfortunate remark suggesting that Arbella Stuart was a suitable successor to Queen Elizabeth.
[10] In April 1603, King James wrote to Henry IV of France to appoint another diplomat, Charles Cauchon de Maupas du Tour, who had been a success in Scotland, as the French Ambassador in Ordinary, resident in England, instead of Beaumont.
[12] Before he left England, Sully bought jewels for Anne of Denmark and the women of her household with Beaumont's advice, as gifts from Henry IV.
He commented that the performance was "rustic", in the sense of unsophisticated (rather than in the pastoral genre), and served mainly to raise the queen's spirits, and she was planning a superior and more costly event for Christmas, realised as The Masque of Indian and China Knights and The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses.
[18] Before the court returned to London, according to Arbella Stuart, the Spanish ambassador the Count of Villamediana organised a dinner for Anne de Rabot, asking her to invite some English ladies.
[20] Dudley Carleton claimed this dinner was not a success, that Villamediana and Beaumont were "half falling out" over leading the dancing, and the guests "all returned very ill satisfied for cheer or entertainment".
[24] Beaumont was not invited to see The Vision of Twelve Goddesses because of diplomatic rivalries,[25][26] but attended a sword dance performed by Scottish courtiers at Hampton Court on 6 January 1604 in the queen's presence chamber.
[28] Beaumont disapproved of Anne of Denmark's plans for Prince Henry to marry a Spanish princess, but his disagreements with Villamediana about precedence were motivated by requirements to uphold national prestige.
[32] The child, Anna Sophia died in 1605 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is an obelisk to her memory with a Latin inscription and the Harlay heraldry.
[36] Anne de Rabot wrote to Robert Cecil, now Viscount Cranborne, on 5 April 1605 asking that a condemned priest should be banished rather than executed.
[39] After Henry Garnet was captured at Hindlip Hall in January 1606, and taken to the Tower of London, he was asked about his meetings with Beaumont and with Spanish diplomats.
