introduced to the King as minister. Over the years, she did not notice the rising power of her protégé; when she realized it, she broke with the Cardinal and sought to oust him. Still not understanding the personality of her son and still believing that it would be easy for her to demand the disgrace of Richelieu from him, she tried to obtain the dismissal of the minister. After the "Day of the Dupes" (Journée des Dupes) of 10–11 November 1630, Richelieu remained the principal minister, and the Queen Mother was constrained to be reconciled with him. Marie ultimately decided to withdraw from court. Louis XIII, judging his mother too involved in intrigue, encouraged her to retire to the Château de Compiègne. From there, she fled on 19 July 1631 towards the city of Étrœungt (in the County of Hainaut), where she slept before going to Brussels. She intended to plead her case there, but the escape was only a political trap set by her son, who had withdrawn the regiments guarding the Château de Compiègne. Now a refugee with the Spanish, enemies of France, Marie was thus deprived of her pensions.Her chaplain Mathieu de Morgues, who remained faithful to Marie in his exile, wrote pamphlets against Richelieu that circulated in France clandestinely. During her last years, Marie travelled to various European courts, in the Spanish Netherlands (the ruler of which, Isabella Clara Eugenia, and the ambassador Balthazar Gerbier tried to reconcile her with Richelieu), in England at the court of her daughter Queen Henrietta Maria for three years (staying en route to London in Gidea Hall) and then in Germany; with her daughters and sons-in-law where she tried again to form a "league of sons-in-law" against France, without ever being able to return, and her supporters were imprisoned, banished or condemned to death. Her visit to Amsterdam was considered a diplomatic triumph by the Dutch, as it lent official recognition to the newly-formed Dutch Republic; accordingly, she was given an elaborate ceremonial royal entry, of the sort the Republic avoided for its own rulers. Spectacular displays (by Claes Corneliszoon Moeyaert) and water pageants took place in the city's harbour in celebration of her visit. There was a procession led by two mounted trumpeters, and a large temporary structure was erected on an artificial island in the Amstel River especially for the festival. The structure was designed to display a