Note 45 — Chapter X
Reading edition
Don Juan was kept in Madrid for many months, much to his own disgust, as he saw that it was in consequence of the intrigues of Queen Mariana to separate him from the army altogether. One of her plans was to induce the King to order Don Juan to conduct to Germany the young Infanta Margaret, who had just been betrothed to her uncle, the Emperor. Don Juan stood out firmly against this. He hated the Austrian connection, and Mariana and her German advisers were his enemies. Affairs came to a head in October 1663, when Don Juan forced the pace by boldly urging his father to make him an Infante of Spain and first minister. This frightened Mariana and her alter ego, Father Nithard, her Jesuit confessor; and it had the effect desired by Don Juan, of obtaining his despatch from Madrid to the army at Badajoz. During his stay in the capital he had offended nearly all the nobles by his haughty arrogance. Avisos.