Marie de Médici (26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642), was queen consort of France. She was the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the Bourbon branch of the kings of France. Following his assassination in 1610, she was the regent for her son King Louis XIII of France.
Born in Florence, Italy, she was the daughter of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Johanna, Archduchess of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Ho...
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Marie de Médici (26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642), was queen consort of France. She was the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the Bourbon branch of the kings of France. Following his assassination in 1610, she was the regent for her son King Louis XIII of France.
Born in Florence, Italy, she was the daughter of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Johanna, Archduchess of Austria. Her maternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Anne of Bohemia. Anne was a daughter of Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his wife Anne de Foix. She was one of seven children but only she and a sister Eleonora de' Medici survived to adulthood.
Uncommonly pretty in her youth, in October 1600 she married Henry IV of France following the annulment of his marriage to Marguerite de Valois. She brought as part of her dowry 600,000 crowns. Her eldest son, the future King Louis XIII, was born at Fontainebleau the following year.
The marriage was not a successful one. The...
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