However, as it happened, there was no war into which the young soldier could enter at that time, so that he had to content himself with martial exercises and contests at home, which, though not so much to his own taste, made him no less popular with his father's subjects.
In Henry Stuart the old school of chivalry had nearly its last representative.

The knightly Kings of England had given place, after the Wars of the Roses, to sovereigns whose strength lay more in the council chamber than on the field of battle; but now, after a long interval, the old dying spirit flickered up once more in the person of this boy.

Once again, after many, many years, the court went to witness a tournament, when in the tiltyard of Whitehall, before king and queen, and lords and ladies, and ambassadors, the Prince of Wales at the head of six young nobles defended the lists against all comers.

There is something melancholy about the record--the day for such scenes had gone by, and its spirit had departed from the nation.

The boy had his sport and his honestly earned applause; but when it was all over the old chivalry returned to the grave, never to appear again.
Henry himself only too soon, alas! sunk into that grave also.