ABSTRACT
After the cheering stopped Charles’s problems continued. Disappointed in love he needed a scapegoat. He could never admit that he had acted with besotted silliness over the Infanta, or that she, the object of his love, or that Buckingham, the friend who had rescued him from the mess in Madrid, were to blame. For the first couple of weeks after Charles’s and Buckingham’s return ‘welcome home’ was the court’s only business. The repercussions of Charles’s change of heart quickly became apparent. On 20 December the king issued writs summoning a new parliament, and ten days later recalled Bristol from Madrid. By adopting an anti-Spanish policy, and provoking Madrid’s ambassadors into over-reacting, Charles and Buckingham won great popularity, which they translated into parliamentary votes to destroy the minister who was their most powerful enemy. Charles’s service in the parliament of 1624 did much to enhance his popularity.
