Philip’s Escurial hid a private retreat at its heart

Evidence

At the secret heart of the great building, right next to the monastery church, a meagre suite of rooms is hidden. The most important pieces are a sort of study or workroom decently lighted but somehow meanly proportioned, and off it an alcove bedroom which has a shuttered little window opening into the church near the high altar. Monastery, palace and tomb prove only so many masks concealing a retreat, a refuge, almost a hiding-place. — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 162

Categorization

• FICTION: The hidden workroom with the shuttered window into the church is a gift for scene-setting — a physical emblem of Philip’s isolated, watchful kingship.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 162
• XREF: connects to: Philip’s grand building project actually concealed a private retreat for himself — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 162