Christophe de Harlay, Count of Beaumont (1570–1615) was a French politician and diplomat who served as ambassador to England.
He was the son of Achillee de Harlay, seigneur de Beaumont (1504–1572) and Catherine de Thou. He married Anne Rabot in June 1599. She was a daughter of Ennemond Rabot d'Illins (1543–1603).
At the court of Elizabeth I Beaumont came to England in November 1601 to advise on maritime issues and subsequently replaced the resident French ambassador, Monsieur de Boissise. In March 1602 Beaumont reported news that James VI of Scotland would send 2,000 men to fight in Ireland. He used the word "sauvages", savages, for these soldiers.Jean Baptiste Alexandre Théodore Teulet, Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), p. 251. Beaumont heard that the King of Spain was bankrolling a faction in Scotland, and Henry IV's ambassador to Scotland, Charles Cauchon de Maupas de Tour, should know about it. De Tour was bringing a gift of mules and dogs to James VI.Jean Baptiste Alexandre Théodore Teulet, Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), p. 259.
In July 1602 his wife attended Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace and gave her maids of honour gifts of French purses, fans, and masks.Tracy Borman, Elizabeth's Women (Vintage, 2010), p. 199: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 127. Beaumont encountered Michael Balfour, Laird of Burleigh who was travelling to France to buy weapons in quantity.Jean Baptiste Alexandre Théodore Teulet, Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), p. 262.
Beaumont sent updates on the health of Elizabeth and news of her death to Henry IV of France.Memoirs of Sully, vol. 3 (London, 1757), p. 76: Alexandre Teulet, Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), pp. 293-7. Some of his reports suggest that Elizabeth did not name her successor, although he also wrote that she had told William Cecil and the Earl of Nottingham in private that James VI would be king of England.Tracy Borman, The Stolen Crown: Treachery, deceit and the death of the Tudor dynasty (Hodder & Stoughton, 2025), pp. 256–257.
In February 1603 he commented on the character of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of James VI. Some allies of James had told him she was cruel and ambitious, fort cruelle, bròuillonne et sanguinaire, and hoped to rule Scotland through her son Prince Henry after the death of her husband.Jean Baptiste Alexandre Théodore Teulet, Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), pp. 279-80. There seems to be no further evidence of this intrigue, though Anne and James had quarrelled bitterly over the upbringing of her son.John Hill Burton, History of Scotland vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1873), pp. 380-1.
Beaumont and Rosny Beaumont had a lodging on Butcher Row in the Strand, where Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, at this time known as the Marquis de Rosny, stayed at first when he came to congratulate James VI and I on his acquisition of the throne of England. Some of the French got into a fight, and a Londoner was killed. Sully insisted on handing over a young French nobleman, a relative of Beaumont's, to the authorities as the murderer, expecting he would be executed. Beaumont secured his release.Memoirs of Sully, vol. 3 (London, 1757), pp. 101-5. Sully and Beaumont had dinner with King James at Greenwich Palace on 29 June 1603. They sat at the king's table which was decorated with a diamond studded pyramid serving as a cupboard for silverware. The conversation was mostly about hunting and the warm weather.Memoirs of Sully, vol. 3 (London, 1757), p. 153.
According to the Venetian diplomat Scaramelli, Beaumont managed to upset King James with an unfortunate remark suggesting that Arbella Stuart was a suitable successor to Queen Elizabeth.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603–1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), p. 48 no. 73. In April 1603, King James wrote to Henry IV of France to appoint another diplomat, Charles Cauchon de Maupas du Tour, who had been a success in Scotland, as the French Ambassador in Ordinary, resident in England, instead of Beaumont.Relations Politiques de la France Et de L'Espagne Avec L'Ecosse, vol. 4 (Paris, 1862), pp. 375, 378-9. Henry IV was displeased by a complaint about his diplomats and was eventually satisfied that Beaumont was the victim of a slander.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603–1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), pp. 32 no. 55, 37 no. 63, 42 no. 67.
Before he left England, Sully bought jewels for Anne of Denmark and the women of her household with Beaumont's advice, as gifts from Henry IV.John Duncan Mackie, 'James VI and I and the Peace with Spain, 1604', The Scottish Historical Review, 23:92 (July 1926), p. 247. They gave her a mirror of Venice crystal in a gold box set with diamonds, a gold table clock with diamonds to Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford, a gold box with the French king's portrait to Lady Rich and a pearl and diamond necklace to "Lady Rosmont". They gave a diamond ring to "Margaret Aisan, a favourite lady of the queen's bedchamber", this was probably Margaret Hartsyde, a Scottish servant who lacked the aristocratic status of the other women. There were jewels for the Earl of Lennox, for Sir Thomas Erskine, Roger Aston, and a gold cup for one of Sir Robert Cecil's clerks. Sully left money with Beaumont for further gifts and rewards. In his Memoirs, Sully explains that they carefully chose the recipients to build a pro-French faction, without arousing jealousy among the courtiers.Memoirs of the Duke of Sully, vol. 2 (London, 1890), p. 421.
Anne of Denmark had not yet arrived in London. Sully's brother-in-law, Andre de Cochefilet, Count of Vauvineux, met her as she was travelling towards Northampton.HMC Lord De L'Isle & Dudley, vol. 3 (London, 1936), p. 42. Harlay thought she was a Catholic and heard that she secretly wore a little cross at her breast with a relic of the True Cross.Pierre Paul Laffleur de Kermaingant, L'ambassade de France en Angleterre sous Henri IV: Mission de Christophe de Harlay, Comte de Beaumont (Paris, 1895), p. 148. When Harlay met her on 13 August 1603, he found her "lively and spirited". He attended the dinner for the Order of the Garter at Windsor Castle in June 1603, and the coronation on 25 July 1603.Maurice Lee, Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624: Jacobean Letters (Rutgers University Press, 1972), p. 36: Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603-1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), p. 77 no. 105.
Winchester In October 1603, King James and Anne of Denmark moved to Winchester to avoid the plague in London. Beaumont attended a masque produced by Anne of Denmark for her son, Prince Henry's Welcome at Winchester. He commented that the performance was "rustic", in the sense of unsophisticated (rather than in the pastoral genre), and served mainly to raise the queen's spirits, and she was planning a superior and more costly event for Christmas, realised as The Masque of Indian and China Knights and The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses.Pierre Laffleur de Kermaingant, L'ambassade de France en Angleterre sous Henri IV: Mission de Christophe de Harlay, comte de Beaumont (Paris, 1886), p. 131: Letter to M de Villeroy from M de Beaumont, British Library Add MS 30639, f.283v: Another copy, BnF Français 3503, f.116v
Before the court returned to London, according to Arbella Stuart, the Spanish ambassador the Count of Villamediana organised a dinner for Anne de Rabot, asking her to invite some English ladies. She brought the Countess of Bedford, Lady Penelope Rich, Lady Susan de Vere, and "Lady Dorothy", perhaps Dorothy Percy, Countess of Northumberland or more likely Dorothy Hastings who danced in several masques.Sarah Jayne Steen, Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart (Oxford, 1994), p. 192. Anne Rabot's choice of dining companions included women of the former faction of the late Earl of Essex.Lesley Lawson, Out of the Shadows (London, 2007), pp. 55-6. Dudley Carleton claimed this dinner was not a success, that Villamediana and Beaumont were "half falling out" over leading the dancing, and the guests "all returned very ill satisfied for cheer or entertainment". Carleton made fun of Beaumount and calls him the "Little French Monsieur" and "Little Beaumont".Maurice Lee, Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624 (Rutgers UP, 1972), pp. 44, 61, 64: Philip Yorke, Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. 1 (London, 1778), p. 385.
Beaumont's colleague, the embassy secretary, D'Auval, had brought a portrait of Marie de' Medici for Anne of Denmark.HMC Lord De L'Isle & Dudley, vol. 3 (London, 1936), p. 188 fn.2 He left Winchester to return to France and King James gave him a jewel worth 150 crowns.Maurice Lee, jnr., Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624: Jacobean Letters (Rutgers University Press, 1972), p. 44. D'Auval returned, and in 1605 visited Scotland.HMC Lord De L'Isle & Dudley, vol. 3 (London, 1936), p. 188 fn.2
London
Beaumont was not invited to see The Vision of Twelve Goddesses because of diplomatic rivalries,Martin Butler, The Stuart Court Masque and Political Culture (Cambridge, 2008), p. 100.Mark Hutchings & Berta Cano-Echevarría, 'Between Courts: Female Masquers and Anglo-Spanish Diplomacy, 1603–5', Early Theatre, 15:1 (2012), pp. 92–93. but attended a sword dance performed by Scottish courtiers at Hampton Court on 6 January 1604 in the queen's presence chamber.John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 317: Pierre Paul Laffleur de Kermaingant, L'ambassade de France en Angleterre sous Henri IV: Mission de Christophe de Harlay Comte de Beaumont (Paris, 1895), pp. 175-178: Maurice Lee, Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603–1624 (Rutgers UP, 1972), p. 54.Anna Whitelock, The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain (Bloomsbury, 2025), p. 41. Villamediana wrote that Beaumont had been ambushed and taken to the queen's chamber for the Scottish gentlemen's masque, as he was hoping for an invitation to The Vision.Berta Cano Echevarría & Mark Hutchings, 'The Spanish Ambassador and Samuel Daniel's Vision of the Twelve Goddesses: A New Document', English Literary Renaissance, 42.2 (2012), pp. 227, 245-6. Beaumont disapproved of Anne of Denmark's plans for Prince Henry to marry a Spanish princess, but his disagreements with Villamediana about precedence were motivated by requirements to uphold national prestige.Thomas Birch, Life of Henry, Prince of Wales (London, 1760), pp. 45-6.
Beaumont cultivated the company of the Earl of Northumberland and offered him the services of his chef. A servant of the Earl visited the stables of the ambassador at "Mouldsey" (Molesey near Hampton Court) to view some horses.Mark Nicholls, Investigating Gunpowder Plot (Manchester, 1991), p. 148. Beaumont met the Jesuit Henry Garnet twice, the first time at Walsingham House in Seething Lane, a London house of the Earl of Northumberland.Henry Foley, Records of the English Province, 4 (London, 1878), p. 156.
His daughter was baptised in London in May 1604, Anne of Denmark was sponsor, and Beaumont invited the Spanish ambassador as act of reconciliation.Horatio Brown, Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603–1607, vol. 10 (London, 1900), p. 152 no. 221. The child, Anna Sophia died in 1605 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where there is an obelisk to her memory with a Latin inscription and the Harlay heraldry.Westminster Abbey: Anna Beaumont