On 1 June they set out for England, and on the last day of the month arrived at Windsor. At the celebration of the feast of St. George at Windsor, on 2 July, the prince was invested with the order of the Garter, on which occasion the English courtiers are said to have been specially impressed by his ‘quick, witty answers, princely carriage, and reverend obeisance at the altar.’ On account of the increase of the plague the prince was the same month removed from Windsor to Oatlands, Surrey, where ‘he took house to himself.’ He also occasionally resided at Hampton Court. During the visit of the Constable of Castile to England in 1604 a proposal was made, at the instance of the queen, for the marriage of the prince to the Infanta Anne, eldest daughter of Philip III, and at that time heiress to the Spanish throne; but the king of Spain demanded that he should be sent to Spain to be educated as a catholic, and the negotiations proved futile. They were renewed again in 1605, and also in 1607, but without any definite result. In August 1605 the prince matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford (Wood, Fasti, i. 316).
In a letter of 31 Oct. 1606 De la Boderie, the French ambassador, writes of the prince: ‘None of his pleasures savour the least of a child. He is a particular lover of horses and what belongs to them, but is not fond of hunting; and when he goes to it it is rather for the pleasure of galloping than that which the dogs give him. He plays willingly enough at tennis, and at another Scots diversion very like mall [golf, no doubt]; but this always with persons older than himself, as if he despised those of his own age. He studies two hours, and employs the rest of his time in tossing the pike, or leaping, or shooting with the bow, or throwing the bar, or vaulting, or some other exercise of that kind; and he is never idle’ (quoted in Birch, pp. 75–6). The prince was clearly fonder of outdoor exercise than of study. The ambassador adds: ‘He is already feared by those who have the management of affairs, and specially the Earl of Salisbury, who appears to be greatly apprehensive of the prince's ascendant; as the prince, on the other hand, shows little esteem for his lordship.’ The prince had also the reputation of being very decorous in his behaviour, strict in his attendance on public worship, and punctilious in regard to the manners of all those in attendance on him or in his service. He ordered boxes at his several houses, ‘causing all those who did swear in his hearing to pay money to the same, which were after duly given to the poor’ (Cornwallis, Account of Prince Henry, 1751 edit. p. 22). He took a special interest both in naval and military affairs, endeavouring thoroughly to master the art of war in all its branches. On 10 June 1607 he was admitted a member of the London Merchant Taylors' Company. In 1608, when the prince's servant and friend Phineas Pett was accused of misdemeanors in connection with the navy, the prince stood by him during the inquiry, and on his being declared innocent expressed the opinion that his accusers ‘worthily deserved hanging.’ The prince was equally outspoken in regard to the treatment of his friend Sir Walter Raleigh, declaring, in reference to Raleigh's imprisonment, that no man but his father would keep such a bird in such a cage.
On 4 June 1610 Henry was created Earl of Chester and Prince of Wales, after which he held his court at St. James's, which was set apart for his residence. It soon became much more frequented than that of his father, who is said to have peevishly exclaimed, in reference to his son's popularity, ‘ Will he bury me alive?’ In April 1611 an application was made to the king of England on behalf of the Prince of Piedmont, eldest son of the Duke of Savoy, for the hand of the Princess Elizabeth, on condition that a marriage were also arranged between the Prince of Wales and the eldest daughter of the duke; but the proposal was received coldly in England. Sir Walter Raleigh wrote in opposition to it. It was not desired by the prince himself, although he veiled his disinclination to it to avoid irritating his father. Latterly, on a choice being submitted to him between the Savoyard princess and the eldest daughter of the regent of France, he gave an undecided answer, hinting that he would prefer not to be bound to either. All the while he nourished a secret plan of accompanying his sister to Germany, where it was his intention to choose a wife for himself. Matters, however, were destined to go no further; for on 10 Oct. 1612 he was seized with a severe illness. During the autumn he had been afflicted with lassitude, and occasionally severe headaches, but apparently gave insufficient heed to these symptoms. Even after being seriously ill he played at tennis in chilly weather with insufficient clothing. Next day he was unable to rise from his bed, and after various fluctuations he succumbed on 6 Nov. (cf. for narrative of the illness Cornwallis, Account, extracts from which are printed in Peck, Desiderata; and also T. T. Mayerne, Opera Medica, 1701; a translation of Mayerne's account is included in Dr. Norman Moore's pamphlet). He was buried in Westminster Abbey 8 Nov. The course of the illness puzzled the physicians, who, beyond declaring
