Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy
Born at the Louvre Palace, she was loved by her parents despite their inevitable disappointment that she was not the male heir for which they hoped. She was baptised almost four months later, on 2 February 1573 in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Despite the religious and political controversy stemming from the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (which had occurred only two months before her birth), one of her godmothers was the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, who sent William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester as her proxy for the ceremony. Her other godmother and namesake was her maternal grandmother, the Holy Roman Empress, and her godfather was Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. She was raised under the supervision of her governess, Isabelle de Crissé.