Before he was seven years old, he had traveled to Rome twice. In 853, Alfred was sent with an escort and met Pope Leo IV. In 855 King Æthelwulf traveled to Rome taking his young son Alfred with him. They stayed in Rome a year and returned through France. There, king Æthelwulf and his son Alfred stayed at the court of Charles the Bald. Æthelwulf became engaged to Charles's eldest daughter, Judith, then about aged twelve. That same October, they were married at Verberie in northern France.