Catherine von Habsburg, Duchess of Pamplona (b.1592: d.1654)
On the 17th of May, 1613, Catherine von Habsburg married Henri, Prince de Conde in an elaborate ceremony designed to attract the interest of the ruling class. She wore an elaborate gown of silver and pale blue.
She and her husband would be happy while their union lasted, with three daughters born before Henri de Bourbon's unfortunate death: Margaret de Bourbon (b.1614), Marie Elisabeth de Bourbon (b.1615) and Charlotte Genevieve de Bourbon (b.1616).
In 1617, Henry de Bourbon found himself ambushed by a group of men formerly friends and servants to Henri III of Navarre. He was brutally beaten and stripped. His body was found naked but holding the portrait of his beloved bride, who gave birth a month after his birth to their first son, Henry Albert de Bourbon, Prince of Conde (b.1617).
Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Pamplona and Prince de Conde (b.1588: d.1617)
The Princess, now a widow at the age of 25, found herself married to the elderly James I of England/VII of Scotland in 1620. This was an attempt to save the failing relationship between France and England, which had stalled in 1610, when the betrothal between Philippe, Dauphin of France and Elizabeth Stuart was ended to betroth him to Anne of Austria (b.1601).
The French Princess would give the King 3 children: James, Duke of Clarence (b.1621), Margaret Stuart (b.1622: 1623) and Catherine Stuart (b.1623: d.1629). Her youngest daughter would return to France with her after the death of King James in 1625. Her son would remain in England, later marrying his half-niece Louise of the Palatinate (b.1622) and having two sons, Charles (b.1640) and Ferdinand (b.1641), before his bride ran away and became a nun.
The other children of Catherine von Habsburg would all marry, though not all of them would have issue. Margaret de Bourbon (b.1614: d.1670) would marry Philip IV of Spain (b.1605: d.1665), having two sons and a daughter: Charles II of Spain (b.1640), Ferdinand of Spain (b.1641: d.1644) and Maria Eugenia of Spain (b.1650).
Margaret de Bourbon (b.1614: d.1670)
Marie Elisabeth de Bourbon (b.1615: d.1680) would marry Charles I of England (b.1600) in 1633, who with she would have: James Stuart (b.1635: d.1636), Henry Stuart (b.1636: d.1636), Charles II of England (b.1637), Elizabeth Stuart (b.1638), Catherine Stuart (b.1639: d.1640), Mary Stuart (b.1641: d.1644), William Stuart, Duke of Gloucester (b.1645). Queen Marie would escape back to France with her children in 1646, in the wake of her husband's imprisonment for his overly-autocratic rule.
Charlotte Genevieve de Bourbon (b.1616: d.1631) married Francis, Prince of Joinville (b.1612), but would die in 1631 after a fever ended fatally. her brother Henry Albert de Bourbon, Duke of Pamplona and Prince of Conde (b.1617) would marry Charlotte's sister-in-law Marie de Lorraine (b.1615), by which he would have two sons: Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Pamplona and Prince of Conde (b.1649) and John de Bourbon, Duke of Guise (b.1654).
Catherine herself would die at Pamplona in 1654, at the care of her son. Her life had been punctuated by early grief and she would tell her son that he was the last joy in her life. Her other son would never know his mother.