In his first week in Ireland Essex mounted a lavish pageant of English chivalry during the Garter Feast at Dublin on St George's Day, 23 April. It was a pointed display of the values he felt were ignored at Elizabeth's Court. In London the Queen had chosen a muted version of the same ceremony, owing to the hardships of the war, and on hearing the reports from Dublin she granted the valuable mastership of wards to Cecil rather than the Earl. There was more humiliation for Essex when he rode north to Drogheda to inspect the famous 1,200 strong Flanders regiment, now commanded by Arthur Chichester. Essex charged the parading troops with his mounted staff, but they chose not to see the joke and stood firm, forcing him to pull his horse back as he was pricked in the backside with a pike.