One year after the execution of his king, Edward Hyde marked the occasion in his private correspondence and personal reflections with a combination of sombreness and optimism. Having accompanied Francis, Lord Cottington, as Charles II's ambassador-extraordinary to the court of Philip IV in Madrid, Hyde drew strength from the ‘good affection’ shown by the Spanish toward ‘his Master’. The Spanish, Hyde wrote to Ormond in Ireland, maintained ‘a high detestacion of ye Villany’ enacted against Charles I, and were eager to aid his son in the advancement of his cause. Likewise, Hyde wrote to the Royalist agent and priest Robert Meynell in Rome that the Vatican could do no less than wed itself to the Royalist cause – not only for the sake of the preservation of the Catholic faith in the Three Kingdoms, but also to ensure that ‘this pleasant doctrine of Liberty and Parity’ did not find its way ‘into the affecions of ye Rabble into what Church soever they have been received’. Outrage, Hyde anticipated, and an unswerving desire among the courts of Europe for the preservation of order within both the Stuart kingdoms and their own dominions would be the foundation for efforts to arouse sympathy and aid.