Carlo Ubertino Solaro, Count of Moretta (born 1540) was a diplomat from Piedmont serving Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. He is sometimes known as the Monsieur de Morette, Obertino Solaro, or Robertino.Leah Redmond Chang, Young Queens: The gripping, intertwined story of Catherine de' Medici, Elisabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots (Bloomsbury, 2023), p. 349: Robert Gore-Booth, Lord Bothwell and Mary, Queen of Scots: A Study of the Life, Character and Times of James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell (London, 1937), pp. 195, 197: John Hungerford Pollen, Papal negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots during her reign in Scotland (Edinburgh: SHS, 1901), p. cxxix.

Diplomat He was a son of Bartolommeo Solaro of Moretta and Casalgrasso, a landowner in the Province of Cuneo. Carlo Ubertino, Count of Moretta is known for his diplomatic missions to Rome, France, Portugal, England, and Scotland. He married Lucrezia Della Rovere, a sister of Gerolamo Della Rovere, Bishop of Toulon and Archbishop of Turin, in 1558.Andrea Raimondi, The Invisible Bridge between the United Kingdom and Piedmont (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2019), p. 43–4 fn. He received the French Order of Saint Michael.Sulle famiglie nobili della monarchia di Savoia (Turin, 1847), p. 977–978.

Missions to England and Scotland

He was sent to England and Scotland as the ambassador of Savoy in 1560 and 1561 with schemes for the potential marriages of Jacques de Savoie, Duke of Nemours and Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara to Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots.Matthew Vester, Renaissance Dynasticism and Apanage Politics: Jacques de Savoie-Nemours (Kirksville, 2012), p. 87.A. Francis Steuart, Seigneur Davie (London, 1922), p. 35.Simon Adams, Ian W. Archer, G. W. Bernard, 'A Journall', Ian W. Archer, Religion, Politics, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 90–1.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London, 1866), p. 642 no. 1073. These marriage plans may have been proposed by Ippolito II d'Este, Cardinal of Ferrara, and uncle of Alfonso II d'Este.John Hungerford Pollen, Papal negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots during her reign in Scotland (Edinburgh: SHS, 1901), pp. xlviii–xlix & fn Ippolito II d'Este had spent time with Mary's father, James V, in France in 1536.Mary Hollingsworth, The Cardinal's Hat: Money, Ambition, and Everyday Life in the Court of a Borgia Prince (Overlook Press, 2005), pp. 117–188.

Moretta made his first visit to England in November 1560.Calendar of state papers: Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London, 1865), p. 399 no. 724: Philip Hardwicke, Miscellaneous State Papers, 1, p. 146 He returned via France, joining the French court at the Palace of Fontainebleau.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London, 1865), p. 586 no. 1041. An English diplomat in Paris, Nicholas Throckmorton, who had previously had identified Moretta as a nephew and successor of Charles de Solier, comte de Morette, and thought him a good skilled courtier, heard that Elizabeth I had failed to give him the usual diplomatic gift on his first visit, and suggested she send a gold chain.Thomas Wright, Queen Elizabeth and Her Times: A Series of Original Letters, 1 (London, 1838), p. 59: p. 476: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London, 1866), pp. 476 no. 836 & fn., 509 no. 898: BL Harley MS 6990 (2).

In 1561, Moretta was sent to announce the news of the pregnancy of the Duchess of Savoy, Margaret of Valois, a daughter of Francis I of France. His brother-in-law, Girolamo Della Rovere, accompanied him on this mission.David Potter, A Knight of Malta at the Court of Elizabeth I (Cambridge, 2014), p. 102 fn. He visited the French ambassador in London, Michel de Seure. De Seure heard that Elizabeth I said to Moretta that she was young and did not need to lean on a husband like an old lady with a walking stick.David Potter, A Knight of Malta at the Court of Elizabeth I (Cambridge, 2014), pp. 104–105. diplomats

The Spanish ambassador in London, Álvaro de la Quadra, was highly critical of Moretta's proposals regarding the marriages and the possibility of Elizabeth I sending delegates to a Papal council, a session of the Council of Trent.Martin A. S. Hume, Calendar State Papers Spain, Simancas, 1 (London, 1892), p. 219 no. 144 Moretta also met two junior English diplomats John Somers and Robert Jones.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign, Elizabeth 1561–1562 (London, 1867), p. 412 no. 679.

Moretta came to Scotland in November 1561 to meet Mary, Queen of Scots.Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary, Queen of Scots, her environment and tragedy: A biography, 1 (London, 1905), p. 207 He stayed near Holyrood Palace, at the house of the queen's brother Lord Robert Stewart. He watched courtiers ride in costume at "running at the ring" on the sands of Leith, where he chatted to the English diplomat Thomas Randolph.John Parker Lawson, History of Scotland by Robert Keith, 2 (Edinburgh, 1845), pp. 125–6John Hungerford Pollen,Queen Mary's Letter to the Duke of Guise (Edinburgh: SHS, 1904), pp. xxxiv–xlii. The event, the second of two tournaments at Leith, was probably a celebration of Mary's birthday.Clare McManus, Women on the Renaissance stage: Anna of Denmark and Female Masquing in the Stuart Court, 1590-1619 (Manchester, 2002), p. 83: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 580 no. 1052.

David Rizzio was a member of Moretta's retinue in Edinburgh, said to be a servant of Moretta's brother-in-law, the Bishop of Toulon.A. Francis Steuart, Seigneur Davie (London, 1922), p. 33: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 7 (London, 1844), p. 65, has "Archbishop of Turin, Moretta's kinsman", for Girolamo Della Rovere. The French ambassador Paul de Foix wrote that Moretta had "given" Rizzio to Mary.Alexandre Teulet, Papiers d'État Relatifs à l'Histoire de l'Écosse, 2 (Paris: Plon, Bannatyne Club, 1852), p. 50. Rizzio's home town in Piedmont was Pancalieri, close to Casalgrasso.Andrea Raimondi, The Invisible Bridge between the United Kingdom and Piedmont (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars, 2019), pp. 44-5. Rizzio stayed in Scotland, Moretta returned to Piedmont via London and France, convinced that Mary had determined to marry Carlos, Prince of Asturias.Martin Hume, Calendar State Papers Spain, Simancas, 1 (London, 1892), p. 222–223 nos. 147, 148: David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 84 The Duke's son, Charles Emmanuel, was born in January 1562. Elizabeth I sent a gift to Moretta, who was with the French court at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and he wrote to her that the Duchess and her son were well.Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1561–1562 (London, 1866), p. 522 no. 881.

Moretta made another journey to Scotland for the baptism of James VI in December 1566 at Stirling Castle.John Hungerford Pollen, Papal Negotiations of Mary Queen of Scots (SHS: Edinburgh, 1901), pp. 454-5. However, he was delayed and Savoy was represented at the ceremony by Philibert du Croc.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship, 1566–1585 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 29: Caroline Bingham, Darnley: A life of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (London, 1995), p. 164. Moretta arrived in Scotland in January 1567, and gave Mary a fan with jewelled feathers.David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 426 fn. 99: Calendar State Papers Venice, 7 (London, 1890), pp. 386-7 no. 378: Joseph Stevenson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. cxlix.

Moretta and Lord Darnley Moretta was still in Edinburgh when Darnley was murdered in February 1567, and he reported the evidence gathered from women who heard his shouts.John Guy, Mary Queen of Scots (Fourth Estate, 2009), pp. 301–2, 307: Caroline Bingham, Darnley: A life of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (London, 1995), p. 181: Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 7 (London, 1844), p. 108.Patrick Fraser Tytler, History of Scotland, 7 (Edinburgh: Tait, 1842), pp. 63, 367, 369. He said that Mary had persuaded him not to meet with Darnley,David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 427: Calendar State Papers Spain, Simancas, 1, p. 622. neither was he permitted to see Darnley's body.'The Diarey (sic) of Robert Birrell', in John Graham Dalyell, Fragments of Scottish History (Edinburgh, 1798), p. 7 Moretta's version of events at the Kirk o' Field seemed not to vindicate Mary from suspicion of involvement in the murder.Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Mary, Queen of Scots; her environment and tragedy; a biography, vol. 2 (London, 1905), p. 449

References