Élisabeth of France

**Élisabeth of France** was a prior *Queen of Spain* and the mother of Marie-Thérèse of Spain. She was also a child of Henry IV of France and a sister of Louis XIII of France.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

Élisabeth, Madame Royale, was born at the Château de Fontainebleau on 22 November 1602; reportedly her mother showed a cruel indifference to her, because she had believed the prophecy of a nun who assured her that she would give birth to three consecutive sons.

Shortly after her birth, she was betrothed with Philip Emmanuel, Prince of Piedmont, eldest son and heir of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, by Catherine Michelle, a daughter of King Philip II of Spain. Philip Emmanuel died in 1605.

As a daughter of the King of France, she was born a *Fille de France*. As the eldest daughter of the king, she was known at court by the traditional honorific of *Madame Royale*. The early years of Madame Royale were spent under the supervision of the royal governess Françoise de Montglat at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a quiet place away from the Parisian court in which she shared education and games with her legitimate siblings (besides Dauphin, the other Fils de France were Christine Marie, later Duchess of Savoy; Nicholas Henri, Duke of Orléans, who died in infancy; Gaston, Duke of Orléans; and Henrietta Maria, later Queen of England) and the bastard children that her father had from his constant love affairs. When King Henry IV was assassinated outside the Palais du Louvre in Paris on 14 May 1610, her brother the Dauphin (with whom Élisabeth had a very close relationship) succeeded him to the throne as Louis XIII of France under the Regency of their mother Marie de' Medici.

When Elisabeth was ten years old, in 1612, negotiations were begun for a double marriage between the royal families of France and Spain; Elisabeth would marry the Prince of Asturias (the future Philip IV of Spain) and her brother Louis the Spanish Infanta Anne.

### **Marriage**

After her proxy marriage to the Prince of Asturias and Louis's proxy marriage to the Infanta Anne, Elisabeth and her brother met their respective spouses for the first time on 25 November 1615 on the Pheasant Island in the river Bidassoa that divides France and Spain between the French city of Hendaye and the Spanish city of Fuenterrabía. This was the last time Louis would see his sister. In Spain, Elisabeth's French name took on the Spanish form of *Isabel*. The religious ceremony took place in the Saint Mary Cathedral in Burgos. At the time of her marriage, the thirteen-year-old Isabel became the new Princess of Asturias.

This marriage followed a tradition of cementing military and political alliances between the Catholic powers of France and Spain with royal marriages. The tradition went back to 1559 with the marriage of King Philip II of Spain with the French princess Elisabeth of Valois, the daughter of King Henry II of France, as part of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. The Exchange of the Princesses at the Spanish Border was painted by Peter Paul Rubens as part of his Marie de' Medici cycle.

## Historical Facts

* She served as regent of Spain during the *Catalan Revolt* in 1640-42 and 1643-44.