When Philip landed at Southampton on 20 July 1554, neither his status nor his functions in England were defined to his own satisfaction, nor, indeed, clearly defined at all. The position of king consort was unprecedented and unknown to English law, so that the statements contained in the marriage treaty which had admitted him to a share in the government of the realm were the result of ad hoc political negotiations, and not of any clearly perceived principles. Moreover, these negotiations had not been carried out by Philip himself, but by the agents of his father, the emperor Charles V. Charles had been primarily concerned to secure for his son a prestigious match which would strengthen his hand in northern Europe generally, and in the Netherlands particularly. Consequently he had not scrupled to accept conditions imposed by the English negotiators which might severely restrict his son's effectiveness in domestic affairs. The English, for their part, had started from a position of deep mistrust, being well aware of the strength of opposition to the marriage at all levels within England, from the council down – and Charles was also well aware of this background to their demands. One of the factors which had fuelled English apprehensions had been the well-known Habsburg proclivity for ‘conquest by marriage’. Another had been legal doubts about the exact nature of the queen's own authority. A ruling queen was also a novelty, and although there was no Salic law in England, there were common lawyers who were prepared to argue that Mary had only a ‘woman's estate’ in the realm.