La Reine Margot

In 1572 Marguerite de Valois, daughter of the late Henri II, King of France and Catherine de Medicis, married Henri III and IV, King of Navarre and later of France. Henri III divorced her in 1599, to marry Gabrielle d'Estrées, who died before they could marry. So he married Marie de Medicis instead.

What is interesting to me is that there is no recorded bastards (that I could find) for King Henri before he became king of France, only after.

If Henry had had children by Marguerite (who were raised as Catholics), would the succession to France have bypassed him and crowned their son king? (As what they wanted to do with his uncle, Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon), or would Henry have been king?

Can we give them children? Or is it a case of incompatibility?

And can anyone tell me of any other ROYAL brides proposed for Henry besides Marie de Medicis?
 
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In 1572 Marguerite de Valois, daughter of the late Henri II, King of France and Catherine de Medicis, married Henri III and IV, King of Navarre and later of France. Henri III divorced her in 1599, to marry Gabrielle d'Estrées, who died before they could marry. So he married Marie de Medicis instead.

What is interesting to me is that there is no recorded bastards (that I could find) for King Henri before he became king of France, only after.

If Henry had had children by Marguerite (who were raised as Catholics), would the succession to France have bypassed him and crowned their son king? (As what they wanted to do with his uncle, Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon), or would Henry have been king?

Can we give them children? Or is it a case of incompatibility?

And can anyone tell me of any other ROYAL brides proposed for Henry besides Marie de Medicis?
Isabella Clara Eugenia, I think can be married to Henri IV.
 
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Isabella might be a good choice as a first, but not as a second wife, but all her children died in infancy since by the time she finally got married she was 32 or something. In any case, Philip II wanted to enthrone her as Queen of France suo jure.

The other thing is IIRC Henri refused to marry a German because he didn't like the idea of going to bed with a wine barrel, which leaves a) an Italian princess, b) a Braganza princess (daughter of Catherine of Guimaraes, duchess of Braganza, or a Portuguese infanta the daughter of the prior of Crato, or c) a Dutch princess (daughter of Charlotte de Montpensier), or 4) a Lorrainer princess perhaps?
 
Isabella might be a good choice as a first, but not as a second wife, since all her children died in infancy since by the time she finally got married she was 32 or something. In any case, Philip II wanted to enthrone her as Queen of France suo jure.

The other thing is IIRC Henri refused to marry a German because he didn't like the idea of going to bed with a wine barrel, which leaves a) an Italian princess, b) a Braganza princess (daughter of Catherine of Guimaraes, duchess of Braganza, or a Portuguese infanta the daughter of the prior of Crato, or c) a Dutch princess (daughter of Charlotte de Montpensier), or 4) a Lorrainer princess perhaps?
 
Isabella might be a good choice as a first, but not as a second wife, since all her children died in infancy since by the time she finally got married she was 32 or something. In any case, Philip II wanted to enthrone her as Queen of France suo jure.

The other thing is IIRC Henri refused to marry a German because he didn't like the idea of going to bed with a wine barrel, which leaves a) an Italian princess, b) a Braganza princess (daughter of Catherine of Guimaraes, duchess of Braganza, or a Portuguese infanta the daughter of the prior of Crato, or c) a Dutch princess (daughter of Charlotte de Montpensier), or 4) a Lorrainer princess perhaps?
What about Arabella Stuart but yeah a Lorraine marriage would be good because it also means he can claim Naples which resumes the France-Spain rivalry.
 

Razgriz 2K9

Banned
Okay, so no Germans, I wonder what makes Lorraine. :p

In the event that the divorce still happens in 1599, a few comments and concerns:

Did Lorraine still hold on to their claims to the Kingdom of Naples after all that time? Either way it would still be a good choice, if it weren't for the fact that said daughters are in their 30's and thus might not be at a child-bearing age anymore.

Arabella was Protestant, it's not going to be popular with the ultra-catholics (Guise), and might lead to a resumption of the Wars of Religion, unless she converts as well...The Dutch Princess I don't know too much about but we might run into a similar problem.

The Braganza Princess at the time boils to the only surviving daughter to the house at the time, and that is Serafina of Braganza (Second Daughter of Joao I, Duke of Braganza, who married Juan Fernandez Pacheco, the Duke of Escalona).
 
Arbella Stewart was proposed as a match for the duke of Savoy and for some Farnese cardinal by the pope, and refused both matches (which would've resulted in the Pope and Spain seeing her as Legitimate Queen) and reported it to James I. However, she later ended up in the tower after marrying another Seymour (this one the son of Catherine Grey, heiress to England) which James then perceived as a threat what with her claims to Scotland and his claims to England

As for a Dutch princess, one of Charlotte de Montpensier's daughters was returned to her maternal grandfather, raised a Catholic and later entered a convent.

Elisabeth Renee of Lorraine or her sisters Anne, Catherine and Claude were born in 1574, 1571, 1573 & 1574 respectively (therefore ± the same age as Marie de Medicis).


However, in 1599, Elisabeth Renee was already married to the duke of Bavaria. So, perhaps that can be butterflied away, and Elisabeth Renee sent to Paris, and maybe Marie de Medicis sent to Münich.


On the other hand, if Henri and Marguerite had had a son (say between her marriage in 1572 and 1576 (when they were both kept as virtual prisoners at court in Paris), would a marriage to Marie de Medicis have been contracted if he was the Catholic dauphin, or would he have been married elsewhere?


Or, Henri might decide to marry his sister, Catherine, off earlier that she could have children, and a Prince of Viana who was also Dauphin, could marry whoever Catherine's children would be.
 
Or, Henri might decide to marry his sister, Catherine, off earlier that she could have children, and a Prince of Viana who was also Dauphin, could marry whoever Catherine's children would be

Who might end up as the lucky winner of Catherine (the heiress presumptive to the throne of Navarre, but not France)? A German duke, where she would be carried kicking and screaming to the altar:D? Or a French Protestant peer, like the duc de Bouillon or a de la Tremoille prince?
 
A Bourbon-Busset is in a difficult position, since from a purely legal pov they had a closer claim to the crown of France than Bourbon-Vendôme. However, it was nott clear as to whether they were born of a marriage (which barring a posthumous legalization was uncanonical afaik due to the founder of the line being a cleric) or bastards from the get go because there NEVER was a marriage.

Catherine de Medicis had a plan to have the marriage between Margot and Navarre annulled and then to marry Navarre to her favorite granddaughter OTL Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Chrétienne de Lorraine. However she never put this plan into practice before she died.
 
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