In the Netherlands, the early widowed Mary was visited by numerous admirers and suitors, among whom was George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. According to contemporaries, Duke Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his brother George William also offered their hands and hearts to Mary in Paris; in addition, Cardinal Mazarin showed particular favor to the princess, and also circulated rumours that she was having an affair with (or had been secretly married to) Henry Jermyn, a member of her brother James of York' household. The rumours were probably untrue, but Charles II took them seriously, and tried to prevent any further contact between Jermyn and the princess. Mary left Paris on 21 November and after a two-month stay at her brother's court in Bruges returned to The Hague. Soon after her return, Mary learned that her mother-in-law had offered Charles II to marry her daughter Henriette Catherine, which deeply angered the princess. In 1658, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels tried to obtain the post of sole regent for her grandson, to whom Mary was also appointed by the Supreme Court, but the princess, with the support of her French relatives, managed to repel the intrigues of her mother-in-law.