The Queen and the Frog

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Anna Carolina of Spain, Holy Roman Empress (circa 1685). Aged 23, the Holy Roman Empress had undergone 6 pregnancies already, having had only two sons survive. Painted in the ideal, the Empress was described by her most kindly critics as "somewhat large" and by her cousin, Margaret Theresa of Spain, as "fat and ugly".

The Spanish War of Succession was a battle between the legal claimant and the male claimant. Anna Carolina of Spain, Holy Roman Empress had been married to the Holy Roman Emperor himself to ensure her position, and had striven for recognition. The young woman, unambitious in her own right but fiercely loyal to her father's wishes, would be pregnant with what would be her second son, the son she envisioned to be the King of Spain, Diego Leopold of Austria. The Queen, who finds herself pregnant once again within 4 months of her son's birth, has Diego crowned as Diego I, King of Castile, Aragon and Portugal.

In Spain, her rival, who has called himself Charles II of Spain, fights for recognition in his own country. His sister, Isabella Michelle of Spain, would in 1683 defect to France, sending letters to Vienna with information on her brother's plans for war. She would soon find herself penniless and in 1688 would marry in France the visiting Ernest Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who would go on to join the travelling Austrian army. The Rival King would himself send word to France, promising a match between his son and Marie Adelaide de Valois, the daughter of the Comte de Artois and Marie Charlotte of the Palatine. He also offered his daughter (born in 1681) Joanna Clara of Spain to the Comte's son, Francis Jean de Valois.

Fearing to alienate the Emperor, and to cause war, the King of France, the elderly Henry IV of France, IX of England and Ireland would support his niece, who proposed similar matches between her sons Philip and Diego to Marie Adelaide and Marie Therese de Valois. Thus, it was quickly that the reign of Carlos went from theoretical to impossible. However, one area stood behind the Infanta, just to regain their independence. On the 8th of March, 1686, Charles von Hapsburg was crowned Charles I of Portugal. Furious but monetarily depleted, Anna Carolina would only be prevented from declaring war by her husband, who reminded her that they would have to wait until the treasury wasn't empty.

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Charles I of Portugal (circa 1687)

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Madeline Therese Gonzaga, Queen of Portugal (circa 1687). These two, having made it to Lisbon, would go on to have 3 further children, named Maria Eugenia, Manuela Beatrice and Manuel Juan. With his sons and daughters, the new King of Portugal began the process of gaining recognition by the other royals of Europe.
 
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Louis-Francis de Valois, Comte de Artois (circa 1690).

The Comte de Artois was in a difficult position in 1689. His grandfather, the very elderly 83 year old Henry IV of France, IX of England and Ireland, was still active in the government, but not in any other field. His father, the Dauphin and Prince of Wales, refused to die and refused to improve his mental state. Still a drunkard and a little kooky, the Dauphin had been mostly separated from his family in most ways. The three other French Princes, Henri-Philippe, Duke of Kent, Edward Jean, Duke of Berry and Charles Thomas, Comte de Provence, enjoyed a peaceful and unhindered experience, particularly after their brother had married in 1681.

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Marie Charlotte of the Palatine (circa 1683)

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Marie Charlotte of the Palatine (circa 1693). Married to the Comte de Artois in 1681, in the first 12 years of their marriage their relationship went from a marriage of convenience to a true pairing. A strong-willed woman with a penchant for drawing and a love for court politics, she and her husband found that their political match was a great personal one. Their six surviving children, out of nine pregnancies, would all display, on some level, their mother's passion, if not her talent, for politics.

The Comte would quickly rise to Dauphin in 1690 with the death of his grandfather, and then to the Kingly title barely 3 months later, with the death of his father. It was rumoured that either he or his wife had killed Charles X of France, I of England and Ireland. He did not pretend grief for his father, but then again neither did his mother or any of his siblings. It was an open secret that Charles de Valois had been despised by his family and, despite his accession to the Throne none had been near the King at his death.

Finally King, Louis XIII of France, I of England and Ireland saw to it that his brothers married well. Henri-Philippe would marry the Queen of Portugal's sister, Marie Francoise Gonzaga, a marriage hated by both and the couple would only stomach the creation of a single daughter, Marguerite Louise de Valois. The next, Edward-Jean, would marry in 1694, Maria Luisa de Medici, an Italian born cousin and a woman entering her 30's. This match, which became ambivalent at best, would produce 2 sons and the ugly Italian woman would grow to respect her husband. It was the third brother, the Comte de Provence, that proved difficult for the King to marry off. Originally set to marry Elizabeth de Valois of England (a match that had fallen through), many matches were attempted. Bavarian, Austrian and even one of the new Portuguese Princesses were thought of, before Charles Thomas himself made his own match with Laura de Lorraine, Duchess of Chevreuse. Done in 1696, when the bride was 35, the King had hoped to have her die childless and take in the title and lands for himself. However, with this match, his brother had risen high in prominence, and thus found himself as a threat to his brother.

The death of the Duke of Angouleme in 1698, at age 37, left his elder sister Marie Marguerite as his heir. Married in 1678 to her cousin, Charles III, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, her only son, Ferdinand Francis Gonzaga, stood to inherit not only his Italian domains but great lands in France. Although the Angouleme title was not able to be inherited by him, the lands of Gaston de Valois were many in number and thus enough to make him a great land owner. A very young man at this time (turning 17 that year), Ferdinand Francis Gonzaga travelled to France to claim his lands. Hoping to further tie the Italian to France in case of war, the King married him to his illegitimate daughter, Louise Claude de Valois la Bastard, his only recognized bastard child. While the King saw this as a great marriage, the young Italian would rage at the fact he had to marry for his lands to be approved and would shun his bride, who's only crime was that her mother had not married her father.

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Louise Claude de Valois la Bastard (circa 1699). Aged 25, the future Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat was a beautiful woman, but truly hated by her husband. The birth of a son in 1700 did little to heal the wounds between then, although he never did allow her dignity to be diminished by any other than himself. Her death in 1703 by her husband seems to have been motivated by hatred of her birth than her as a person, as she was described as beautiful and accomplished. Their other child, Vittoria Magdalena Gonzaga, would be born in 1702 and it is said she was pregnant a third time at her death.
 
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Victoria de Valois, Queen of Scotland (circa 1701). Painted prior to the death of her eldest son, the Queen of Scotland sits with her husband's favourite bird, which was the pride of his famed aviary. This particular bird was called Blanche, and would sing hymns to their children on command.

The royal couple in Scotland, Charles II of Scotland and Victoria de Valois, lived a somewhat idyllic life. The King, a young man with dreams of raising Scotland to an unprecedented level of importance in Europe, enjoyed his equally ambitious and much more intelligent bride. Victoria de Valois, in the words of her husband "the epitome of English womanhood", had grown to look dignified, if not beautiful. Their growing family, which would reach three children in number, was known for their closeness and high moral values. In an era where men took mistresses often and women were becoming prone to follow suit, the King and Queen of Scotland were so close and so fidelious that many doubted it could be real.

However, their bond was, and in 1699, when the Queen gave birth to their last child, the Princess Louisa of Scotland, she was said to have wished for "a hundred years of joy in your arms, with you in mine. Intertwined as lovers, until the very land itself is salt and the sea overwhelms us". However, this great love also meant that other emotions were also heightened, and the death in 1703 of their firstborn and heir, James Stuart, the Duke of Rothesay, meant the royal couple mourned heavily for years, and the Queen never was seen without her famous string of black pearls. This left the succession down to the former Duke of Ross and now Duke of Rothesay, Robert Stuart. After him would come his sisters, the Princesses Mary and Louisa Stuart.

The royal couple, fearing that Scotland might fall into foreign hands if their second-born son was to fail to provide an heir, married their elder daughter to the domestically born Duke of Hamilton , who was a rival claimant to the throne, in 1704. There were other reasons for a domestic match, although the royal family would never admit that. The Princess Mary Stuart was a troublemaker, and a beautiful young woman, and thus found herself in several compromising situations with several of the young men at court. Thus, it was a cruel form of punishment, particularly since the Duke kept his mistress and former wife Elizabeth Gerard and only would go to his young, pretty wife's bed once a month, preferring Elizabeth to Mary. However, the couple would have three children, two sons and a daughter.

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Mary Stuart, Duchess of Hamilton (circa 1706). Age 21 in this portrait, the Princess of Scotland's famed flawless skin is on display, which was said to only have begun to age in her mid-30's. At 45, she was said to look 15 years younger than her actual age, although this did come from her lover at the time, the poet William Claude, a young man from York who had traveled to Edinburgh to perform for the Duchess in 1711 and had soon after become her main lover until his death in 1730, leaving his lover with three illegitimate children.

The new Duke of Rothesay would, in 1709, marry the Infanta Manuela Beatrice of Portugal. Having made the choice to support the King and Queen of Portugal in 1695, the marriage between the youngest Infanta and the Prince of Scotland had been made in 1702. Their first child, a daughter, would be born 9 months after the wedding, and was followed five years later by a son, who would die at age four. It was that year that tragedy struck the royal family.

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Manuela Beatrice of Portugal, Queen Dowager of Scotland (circa 1720). Queen of Scotland for a mere 7 days, Manuela Beatrice's life went downhill in the 6 months following her son's death. The Portuguese Infanta, who had spent the past 11 years in a form of bliss in the happy family of her husband, found her husband and father-in-law both death of smallpox one after the other, and her mother-in-law a month after. Thus, that left the Queen Dowager as the regent to her 11 year old daughter, Mary II of Scotland.

Charles I of Scotland (b.1600: d.1660) m. Anne of Austria (b.1601: d.1662) (a)

1a) Anne of Scotland (b.1637: d.1658)

2a) James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1639: d.1658) m. Louise of Savoy (b.1627: d.1693) (a)

1a) Charles II of Scotland (b. 1659: d.1720) m. Victoria de Valois (b.1662: d.1720) (a)

1a) Anne Stuart (b.1679: d.1680)

2a) Stillborn Son (c.1682)

3a) Mary Stuart (b.1685: d.1749) m. James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (b.1658: d.1712) (a), p. William Claude (c.1670: d.1730) (b)

1a) Charles Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (b.1705)

2a) John Hamilton (b.1707)

3a) Theresa Hamilton (b.1710)

4b) Edward Claude (b.1715)

5b) Jane Claude (b.1719)

6b) Nicole Claude (b.1721)​

4a) James Stuart, Duke of Rothesday (b. 1688: d.1703)

5a) Catherine Stuart (b.1690: d.1692)

6a) Robert IV of Scotland (b.1693: d.1720) m. Manuela Beatrice of Portugal (b.1691: d.1759) (a)

1a) Mary II of Scotland (b.1710)

2a) Charles Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1715: d.1719)​

7a) Louisa Stuart (b.1698: d.1705)​
 
Elizabeth I of England (b.1533: d.1603) m. Francis de Valois, Duke of Anjou (b.1555: d.1584) (a)

1a) Francis III of France, I of England (b.1582: d.1652) m. Elisabeth de Valois (b.1584: d.1646) (a)

1a) Anne de Valois (b.1602: d.1667) m. Philip IV of Spain (b.1605: d.1680) (a)

1a) Anna Carolina of Spain (b.1620: d.1661)

2a) Philip von Hapsburg, Prince of Asturias (b.1624: d.1676) m. Marie Caroline de Valois (b.1632: d.1679) (a)

1a) Miscarriage (c.1654)

2a) Maria Luisa of Spain (b.1657)

3a) Philip von Hapsburg, Prince of Austrias (b.1660: d.1661)

4a) Anna Carolina I of Spain (b.1662) m. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1640: d.1705) (a)

1a) Stillborn Son (c.1677)

2a) Stillborn Son (c.1679)

3a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1680)

4a) Philip Ferdinand Louis von Hapsburg (b.1682)

5a) Diego I of Spain (b.1684)
3a) Miscarriage (c.1626)

4a) Maria Victoria of Spain (b.1628: d.1650) m. Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (b.1633: d.1654) (a)

5a) Gabriel of Spain (b.1632: d.1669)) m. Mariana of Austria (b.1634) (a)

1a) Margaret Theresa of Spain (b.1649) p. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1640: d.1705) (a), m. Ferdinand Francois Joseph de Croÿ-Solre, Duke of Croÿ-Havré (b.1644: d.1694) (b)

1a) Leopold of Austria (b.1677)

2a) Joseph of Austria (b.1680)

3b) Charles de Croÿ-Solre, Duke of Croÿ-Havré (b.1682)

4b) Isabella de Croÿ-Solre (b.1682)

5b) Francis de Croÿ-Solre (b.1684)

6b) Anthony de Croÿ-Solre (b.1685)

7b) Ferdinand Augustus de Croÿ-Solre (b.1686)

8b) Anna de Croÿ-Solre (b.1689)

9b) Albert Maria de Croÿ-Solre (b.1692)
2a) Miscarriage (c.1651)

3a) Charles I of Portugal (b.1653) m. Madeline Therese Gonzaga (b.1660) (a)

1a) Ferdinand Charles of Spain, Prince of Portugal (b.1677) m.

2a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1678)

3a) Catherine of Spain (b.1680: d.1681)

4a) Joanna Clara of Spain (b.1681: d.1699)

5a) Maria Eugenia of Portugal (b.1683)

6a) Manuel Juan of Portugal, Duke of Beja (b.1687)

7a) Manuela Beatrice of Portugal (b.1691) m. Robert IV of Portugal (b.1693: d.1720) (a)

1a) Mary II of Scotland (b.1710)

2a) Charles Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1715: d.1719)
4a) Stillborn Boy (c.1655)

5a) Stillborn Boy (c.1656)

6a) Isabella Michelle of Spain (b.1659: d.1699) m. Ernest Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1661: d.1702) (a)

1a) Elisabeth Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1685)

2a) Adolf of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1688)

3a) Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1692)
6a) Stillborn Girl (c.1634)

7a) Miscarriage (c.1638)

8a) Maria Theresa of Spain (b.1640: d.1661)
2a) Henry IV of France, IX of England and Ireland (b.1603: d.1690) m. Jeanne IV of Navarre (b.1606) (a)

1a) Charles X of France, I of England and Ireland (b.1625: d.1690) m. Eleanor of Bavaria (b.1637: d.1682) (a)

1a) Louis XIII of France, I of England and Ireland (b.1655) m. Marie Charlotte of the Palatine (b.1654) (a)

1a) Marie Adelaide de France (b.1682)

2a) Marie Therese de France (b.1683)

3a) Henry de Valois, Dauphin of France and Prince of Wales (b.1684)

4a) Francis Jean de Valois, Comte de Artois (b.1685)

5a) Miscarriage (c.1688)

6a) Miscarriage (c.1690)

7a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1691)

8a) Charlotte de Valois (b.1692)

9a) Hercules de Valois, Duke of Aquitaine (b.1695)
2a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1657)

3a) Henry-Philippe de Valois, Duke of Kent (b.1660) m. Marie Francoise Gonzaga (b.1665) (a)

1a) Marguerite Louise de Valois (b.1696)
4a) Edward Jean de Valois, Duke de Berry (b.1662: d.1710) m. Maria Luisa de Medici (b.1663) (a)

1a) Francis de Valois, Duke of Berry (b.1700)

2a) Louis-Auguste de Valois (b.1702)
5a) Charles Thomas de Valois, Comte de Provence (b.1663: d.1729) m. Laura de Lorraine, Duchess of Chevreuse (b.1661: d.1700) (a)

1a) Louis-Claudius de Valois, Duke of Chevreuse (b.1699)
2a) Isabelle de Valois, Madame Royale (b.1629: d.1693) m. Frederick VI, Duke of Bavaria (b.1635: d.1701)

1a) Maria Renata of Bavaria (b.1660) m. Francis de Valois, 3rd Duke of York and Orleans (b.1657) (a)

1a) Edward Francis de Valois, Duke of Clarence (b.1678)

2a) Catherine de Valois (b.1680)

3a) Anne de Valois (b.1680)

4a) Margaret de Valois (b.1682)

5a) Henry William de Valois (b.1683)

6a) George de Valois (b.1685)

7a) Eleanor de Valois (b.1686)

8a) Charlotte de Valois (b.1687)

9a) Sophia Luisa de Valois (b.1689)
2a) Louisa of Bavaria (b.1662: d.1699)

3a) Theresa of Bavaria (b.1664) m. Francis Henry de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine (b.1638: d.1692) (a)

1a) Louis-Joseph de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine (b.1690)

2a) Renata Christina de Lorraine (b.1692)
4a) Frederick Henry VII, Duke of Bavaria (b.1665) m. Mary of Cambridge (b.1662) (a)

5a) Isabelle of Bavaria (b.1668: d.1730)
3a) Stillborn Son (c.1630)

4a) Marie Caroline de Valois (b.1632: d.1680) m. Philip von Hapsburg, Prince of Asturias (b.1624: d.1679) (a)

1a) Miscarriage (c.1654)

2a) Maria Luisa of Spain (b.1657: d.1668)

3a) Philip von Hapsburg, Prince of Austrias (b.1660: d.1661)

4a) Anna Carolina I of Spain (b.1662) m. Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1640: d.1705) (a)

1a) Stillborn Son (c.1677)

2a) Stillborn Son (c.1679)

3a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1680)

4a) Philip Ferdinand Louis von Hapsburg (b.1682)

5a) Diego I of Spain (b.1684)
5a) Anna Therese de Valois (b.1633: d.1694) m. Charles II, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1629: d.1681) (a)

1a) Madeline Therese Gonzaga (b.1660) m. Charles I of Portugal (b.1653) (a)

1a) Ferdinand Charles of Spain, Prince of Portugal (b.1677)

2a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1678)

3a) Catherine of Spain (b.1680: d.1681)

4a) Joanna Clara of Spain (b.1681)

5a) Maria Eugenia of Portugal (b.1683)

6a) Manuel Juan of Portugal (b.1687)

7a) Manuela Beatrice of Portugal (b.1691) m. Robert IV of Portugal (b.1693: d.1720) (a)

1a) Mary II of Scotland (b.1710)

2a) Charles Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1715: d.1719)
2a) Marie Francoise Gonzaga (b.1665) m. Henry-Philippe de Valois, Duke of Kent (b.1660)

1a) Marguerite Louise de Valois (b.1696)
3a) Charles III, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1666: d.1703) m. Marie Marguerite de Valois (b.1660: d.1701) (a)

1a) Ferdinand Francis I, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1681: d.1707) m. Louise Claude de Valois la Bastard (b.1674) (a)

1a) Charles IV, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1700)

2a) Vittoria Magdalena Gonzaga (b.1702)
2a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1685)
6a) Edward de Valois (b.1635: d.1635)

7a) Charlotte de Valois (c.1639) m. Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b.1642) (a)

1a) Anna Eleanora Theresa de Medici (b.1660: d.1665)

2a) Maria Luisa de Medici (b.1663) m. Edward Jean de Valois, Duke de Berry (b.1662: d.1710) (a)

1a) Francis de Valois, Duke of Berry (b.1700)

2a) Louis-Auguste de Valois (b.1702)
3a) Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b.1666)
3a) Francis de Valois, 1st Duke of York and Orleans (b.1606: d.1671) m. Anne Brydges (b.1612: d.1676) (a)

1a) Edward de Valois, 2nd Duke of York and Orleans (b.1630: d.1679) m. Sophia of the Palatine (b.1630) (a)

1a) Francis de Valois, 3rd Duke of York and Orleans (b.1657) m. Maria Renata of Bavaria (b.1660) m. Francis de Valois, 3rd Duke of York and Orleans (b.1657) (a)

1a) Edward Francis de Valois, Duke of Clarence (b.1678)

2a) Catherine de Valois (b.1680)

3a) Anne de Valois (b.1680)

4a) Margaret de Valois (b.1682)

5a) Henry William de Valois (b.1683)

6a) George de Valois (b.1685)

7a) Eleanor de Valois (b.1686)

8a) Charlotte de Valois (b.1687)

9a) Sophia Luisa de Valois (b.1689)
2a) Henry Arthur de Valois (b.1658: d.1690) m. Mary Boyle (b.1664: d.1709) (a)

3a) Miscarriage (c.1660)

4a) Victoria de Valois (b.1662) m. Charles II of Scotland (b.1659)
1a) Anne Stuart (b.1679: d.1680)

2a) Stillborn Son (c.1682)

3a) Mary Stuart (b.1685: d.1749) m. James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (b.1658: d.1712) (a), p. William Claude (c.1670: d.1730) (b)

1a) Charles Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (b.1705)

2a) John Hamilton (b.1707)

3a) Theresa Hamilton (b.1710)

4b) Edward Claude (b.1715)

5b) Jane Claude (b.1719)

6b) Nicole Claude (b.1721)
4a) James Stuart, Duke of Rothesday (b. 1688: d.1703)

5a) Catherine Stuart (b.1690: d.1692)

6a) Robert IV of Scotland (b.1693: d.1720) m. Manuela Beatrice of Portugal (b.1691: d.1759) (a)

1a) Mary II of Scotland (b.1710)

2a) Charles Stuart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1715: d.1719)
7a) Louisa Stuart (b.1698: d.1705)
5a) Elizabeth de Valois (b.1666)

6a) William de Valois, Archbishop of Rhiems (b.1669)
2a) Elizabeth de Valois (b.1632) m. Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1629) (a)

1a) Francis George of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1658)

2a) Ernest Louis of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1661) m.
Isabella Michelle of Spain (b.1659: d.1699) (a)

1a) Elisabeth Marie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1685)

2a) Adolf of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1688)

3a) Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1692)
3a) Stillborn Son (c.1662)

4a) Sophie Antigone of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1664: d.1711) m. Gaston de Valois, Duke of Angouleme (b.1661: d.1698) (a)
3a) Edmund de Valois, Duke of Cambridge (b.1633) m. Marie Mancini (b.1639) (a)

1a) Louisa of Cambridge (b.1661) m. Louis Jospeh de Lorraine, Duke de Guise (b.1650: d.1689) (a)

2a) Mary of Cambridge (b.1662) m. Frederick Henry VII, Duke of Bavaria (b.1665)

3a) Ursula of Cambridge (b.1666) m. Thomas Brydges, Duke of Pembroke (b.1660) (a)
4a) Marie Charlotte de Valois (b.1607) m. Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse (b.1578: d.1632) (a)

1a) Elisabeth Cecile de Lorraine (b.1625: d.1656) m. Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern (b.1625: d.1663) (a)

1a) Marie Charlotte of the Palatine (b.1654) m. Louis XIII of France, I of England and Ireland (b.1655) (a)

1a) Marie Adelaide de France (b.1682)

2a) Marie Therese de France (b.1683)

3a) Henry de Valois, Dauphin of France and Prince of Wales (b.1684)

4a) Francis Jean de Valois, Comte de Artois (b.1685)

5a) Miscarriage (c.1688)

6a) Miscarriage (c.1690)

7a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1691)

8a) Charlotte de Valois (b.1692)

9a) Hercules de Valois, Duke of Aquitaine (b.1695)
2a) Therese of the Palatine (b.1659: d.1660)

3a) Henry, Count of the Palatine (b.1662)
2a) Louis Paul de Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse and Comte de Provence (b.1629: d.1662) m. Marie Anne Mancini (b.1649)

1a) Laura de Lorraine, Duchess of Chevreuse (b.1661: d.1700) m. Charles Thomas de Valois, Comte de Provence (b.1663: d.1729) (a)

1a) Louis-Claudius de Valois, Duke of Chevreuse (b.1699)​
3a) Nicholas de Lorraine (b.1632: d.1632)
5a) Arthur de Valois, Duke of Bedford and Anjou (b.1610: d.1689) m. Maria Anna of Austria (b.1610)

1a) Francis Leopold de Valois, Duke of Aquitaine (b.1639: d.1664) m. Caterina Farnese (b.1637) (a)

1a) Marie Marguerite de Valois (b.1660: d.1701) Charles III, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1666: d.1703) (a)

1a) Ferdinand Francis I, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1681: d.1707) m. Louise Claude de Valois la Bastard (b.1674) (a)

1a) Charles IV, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (b.1700)

2a) Vittoria Magdalena Gonzaga (b.1702)
2a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1685)
2a) Gaston de Valois, Duke of Angouleme (b.1661: d.1698) m. Sophie Antigone of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b.1664: d.1711) (a)
2a) Stillborn Son (c.1642)

3a) Miscarriage (c.1645)

4a) Miscarriage (c.1647)

5a) Stillborn Son (c.1650)

6a) Marie de Valois (b.1653: d.1653)

7a) Miscarriage (c.1659)
6a) Louise de Valois (b.1613) m. Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (b.1587: d.1637) (a), Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (b.1604 : d.1659) (a)

1a) Francis Henry de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine (b.1638) m.
Theresa of Bavaria (b.1664) (a)

1a) Louis-Joseph de Lorraine, Duke of Lorraine (b.1690)

2a) Renata Christina de Lorraine (b.1692)
2a) Miscarriage (c.1583)​
 
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Isabella de Croÿ-Solre, Dowager Duchess of Bar (circa 1710). Married to the Duke of Bar, the young brother of the Duke of Guise, in 1702, the couple would have two children before his death in 1705. Left a widow, the 23 year old widow would spend the next decade maintaining a reputation for quiet dignity and good morals. This would not last.


The marriage of Isabella de Croÿ-Solre and Charles IV, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat was not a match that was planned. The Vienna born noblewoman, notable only for her mother's scandalous past, was a beauty who had arrived in France to marry the Duke of Guise's second son, Louis-Charles de Lorraine. However, at that time in the year 1716, the 34 year old woman was a widow with two children, her brother-in-law's heirs after his own unfortunate marriage. Thus, it was accepted the widow would remain unmarried throughout the rest of her life, possibly eventually entering a convent when her children were safely married as she had been.

Her elder child, Marie Nicole de Lorraine, was meant to marry the Italian Duke of Mantua and Montferrat. However, when the Duke came to inspect his bride, he was struck by the mother's beauty, and thus in may of that year the 16 year old snuck away with the 34 year old and eloped in Paris. Furious, the Duke of Guise would demand that the marriage be annulled and the widow be brought back into his custody, but the marriage stood and Isabella de Croÿ-Solre would go on to have a further two children with her second husband, a son named Charles Ferdinand Gonzaga and a daughter named Luisa Carolina Gonzaga.

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Charles Lorenzo Gonzaga IV, Duke of Mantua and Monferrat and his wife, Isabella de Croÿ-Solre, Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat (circa 1720).
 
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Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois, Comtesse de Valois (circa 1710). A lady of some renown, the Comtesse de Valois, as she referred to herself, was considered attractive, but not beautiful. It was, more so, her wit and scandals that drew men to her.

It was the 8th of May, 1708, when the 46 year old Count of the Palatine, Henry von Pfalz-Simmern, married for love a lady who went by the title the Comtesse de Valois. Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois, a descendant of an illegitimate child of Charles IX of France, had been raised under the fiction that her great-great-grandmother had been the King's secret wife and that she was a Princess of France by right, if not in truth. Thus, the lady in question chose a suitably royal title and began travelling the globe in 1698, when she was 16 years of age. Louise, somewhat penniless, traveled first with a family friend, Marie Anne de Bourbon, the youngest unmarried daughter of the Prince de Condé. Travelling in preparation of her own marriage to the second son of the Duke of Bavaria, the presence of the entertaining Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois was in a way a gift from her father, although this is not to say the abusive Prince was simply thinking of his daughter's pleasure. Having made a promise to Louise's mother, Anne Thérése de Valois, that he would provide for her, sending her to another court with a tiny allowance was a way of providing cheaply for a bothersome young girl, particularly one with no prospects.

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Anne Thérése de Valois (circa 1690). Married to her first cousin, Nicholas de Valois, in 1680, the Lady Anne Thérése de Valois was a proud, poor woman who was known for her long running debts and close friendship with the Prince of Condé, and might have been his ownly female friend.

The Lady in question had appropriated the title Comtesse de Valois in 1699, when she took the money sent by the Prince of Condé to cover her costs for the next year and a half and travelled to England, to attempt to make some outlandish and profitable marriage with some rich Englishman. However, the Comtesse would be disappointed with the men of England in this respect, except for the personage of the Prince Henry William de Valois, the second son of the Duke of York and Orleans and a young man with a rebellious spirit. Hoping to marry Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois, the Prince presented her to his parents, after borrowing the majority of his sisters' Margaret and Anne's jewelry to bedeck his hopeful bride. While at first impressed by her story of travelling across the globe to meet their son, it was another former suitor in the form of the Duke of St Albans, a friend of the royal family who had rejected the Comtesse de Valois merely 2 months earlier. Thus, the marriage was denied, even when Louise panicked and announced herself impossibly pregnant with the Prince's child. Having thoroughly embarrased herself in England, the Comtesse returned to her friend's court, enjoying a brief affair with her husband before attempting to marry his brother, a spoilt youth who insulted the Comtesse by calling her a bastard of a bastard that he'd never choose to stand in the same room in if he might have a choice again.

Fully annoyed, she would enjoy the hospitality of the Duc de Croÿ-Solre in Vienna, actually managing to marry his son Francis de Croÿ-Solre in 1703. Unfortunately, the marriage lasted all of three weeks and the Comtesse de Valois was left a childless widow in Vienna. She was initially supported, in style, by her father-in-law, who hoped to marry the Lady to his next son, Anthony de Croÿ-Solre. However, Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois would instead attempt to elope with Joseph of Austria, the elder, illegitimate brother of her dead husband and the son of the Holy Roman Emperor. However, her luck in Vienna fell through when the young man in question publicly denounced the Comtesse de Valois as a whore at court after spending the night with her. Her father-in-law would defend her honour and found himself in a terrible decision when the Comtesse was found missing in the moring, travelling out back to France.

Returning to France, the Comtesse de Valois returned for a time to her former protector, the Prince de Condé, who with his son, had gone completely insane. Thus, she found herself more in the care Henriette of Salm and her daughter-in-law, Marguerite de Guise. Both women were sympathetic to the Comtesse de Valois, although they never used that title with her. In fact, they attempted to have the young woman marry the Prince of Condé's other surviving son, Gaston de Bourbon. However, Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois would find the young man, with a humped back and a tendency to laugh at random intervals, disturbing and thus she would leave for the court in 1706. There, she would spend two years flirting and (allegedly) sleeping her way into the Queen's royal attendance, and eventually into the attendance of Charlotte de Valois, the youngest Fille de France. Thus, it was in her attendance that she would meet her husband in January of 1708.

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Marie Anne de Bourbon, Duchess of Bavaria (circa 1707). Married young to a young man who unexpectantly rose to his own throne, the Duchess of Bavaria was composed, beautiful, and barren.

Henry von Pfalz-Simmern, Count of the Palatine, would turn 46 in February of that year, and had up until that point remained a firm bachelor. Refusing a English-Valois bride twice, he had hoped to leave his holdings to one of his French nephews, in particular the Comte de Artois, who was his favourite nephew. However, it was the sight of the Comtesse de Valois, that was said to have driven him made with desire. And the Comtesse, having learnt from her mistake with Joseph of Austria, who know how to capitalize off such an opportunity. Establishing herself to him as an almost virginal widow desperate for a strong man, she effectively was betrothed in a month and only waited until May because she had to be sure she was not pregnant by a lover before the wedding. Thus, they were married in May, with the King and Queen themselves in attendance. The Princess Charlotte was said to have given her a diamond as large as a goose's egg as a gift, while the King formally invested her with the title she used and gave the couple some lands in France. Finally, the Comtesse had achieved her fantastic marriage.

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Henry von Pfalz-Simmern, Count of the Palatine (circa 1709).

The couple resided in France for a further twelve months, until the new Countess of the Palatine discovered she was pregnant with their first child. Determined to have his child born in Noordeinde Palace as he had been, the Count of the Palatine had his bride brought to The Hague, which she found unappealing. Writing to her dear friend, Marie Anne de Bourbon (the attempt at husband stealing was all but forgotten at this point, although Marie Anne was most definitely not the one to begin this correspondence), she expressed her desire to return to France. Ultimately, she was granted her wish in the cruelest way. Struggling with the labour, the Comtesse de Valois gave birth in February to twin sons, names Louis and Charles. Unfortunately, Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois was not as lucky as her healthy sons and would die, in her death leaving the Count of the Palatine fully grieved, a state he only lost at his own death in 1717. Her sons would be raised in the French royal household, among the children and grandchildren of the royal family.
 
The Illegitimate Line of Charles IX of France

Charles de Valois, Comte de Beaumont-le-Roger (b.1573: d.1650) m. Charlotte de Montmorency (b.1571: d.1636) (a)

1a) Henri de Valois (b.1595: d.1599)

2a) Louis-Emmanuel de Valois, Comte de Beaumont-le-Roger (b.1596: d.1653) m. Marie Henriette de La Guiche, dame de Chaumont (b.1610: d.1686) (a)

1a) Louis de Valois (b.1630: d.1637)

2a) Marie Françoise de Valois (b.1631) m. Louis de Lorraine, Duke of Joyeuse (b.1622: d.1654) (a)

1a) Louis Joseph de Lorraine, Duke of Joyeuse, Comte de Beaumont-le-Roger (b.1650: d.1671)

2a) Catherine Henriette de Lorraine (b.1651: d.1655)​

3a) Armand de Valois, (b.1635: d.1639)

4a) François de Valois (b.1639: d.1644)

5a) Anne Thérése de Valois (b.1649: d.1699) m. Louis Charles de Valois (b.1645: d.1689) (a)

1a) Stillborn Son (c.1670)

2a) Anne Marie de Valois (b.1675: d.1677)

3a) Stillborn Son (c.1676)

4a) Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois, Comtesse de Valois (b.1682: d.1710) m. Francis de Croÿ-Solre (b.1682: d.1703) (a), Henry von Pfalz-Simmern, Count of the Palatine (b.1662: d.1717) (b)

1a) Louis de Valois, Count of the Palatine (b.1710)

2a) Charles de Valois, Comte de Valois (b.1710)​

3a) François de Valois (b.1599: d.1622) m. Marie Thérése de la Mothe-Houdancourt (b.1603: d.1659) (a)

1a) Jean de Valois (b.1620: d.1678) m. Françoise Renée de Lorraine (b.1621: d.1682) (a)

1a) Louis Charles de Valois (b.1645: d.1689) m. Anne Thérése de Valois (b.1649: d.1699) (a)
1a) Stillborn Son (c.1670)

2a) Anne Marie de Valois (b.1675: d.1677)

3a) Stillborn Son (c.1676)

4a) Louise Bénédicte Renée de Valois, Comtesse de Valois (b.1682: d.1710) m. Francis de Croÿ-Solre (b.1682: d.1703) (a), Henry von Pfalz-Simmern, Count of the Palatine (b.1662: d.1717) (b)
1a) Louis de Valois, Count of the Palatine (b.1710)

2a) Charles de Valois, Comte de Valois (b.1710)​

2a) Françoise de Valois (b.1622: d.1622)​
 
Great progress

Something I'm noticing here is that despite France's interests in Italy, they're sorta neglecting two vital, traditional French allies - the duke of Savoy and the duke of Modena. Tomaso Francesco of Savoy was pro-Spanish, yes, but he also holds a duchy that's right on France's doorstep, and considering that France doesn't seem to be doing much about it (though, then again, neither does Spain/Austria), I'm guessing he's feeling a little miffed.

Also, I've searched and searched some more to find out where the la Batarde duchess of Mantua fits in, but I can't seem to figure out whose bastard daughter she is.
 
Great progress

Something I'm noticing here is that despite France's interests in Italy, they're sorta neglecting two vital, traditional French allies - the duke of Savoy and the duke of Modena. Tomaso Francesco of Savoy was pro-Spanish, yes, but he also holds a duchy that's right on France's doorstep, and considering that France doesn't seem to be doing much about it (though, then again, neither does Spain/Austria), I'm guessing he's feeling a little miffed.

Also, I've searched and searched some more to find out where the la Batarde duchess of Mantua fits in, but I can't seem to figure out whose bastard daughter she is.

She is the daughter Henry IV of France, IX of England and Ireland and his ongoing mistress Anne Françoise de La Trémoille, a daughter of Henri Charles de La Trémoille, duc de Thouars. The King began their "spiritual marriage" around 1675, but kept her away from the court. He was highly religious, but also highly infatuated with the pretty young girl. Also her mother is also not OTL, but then again we now have an Anglo-French union, so things like this happen.
 
She is the daughter Henry IV of France, IX of England and Ireland and his ongoing mistress Anne Françoise de La Trémoille, a daughter of Henri Charles de La Trémoille, duc de Thouars. The King began their "spiritual marriage" around 1675, but kept her away from the court. He was highly religious, but also highly infatuated with the pretty young girl. Also her mother is also not OTL, but then again we now have an Anglo-French union, so things like this happen.

Okay, cool
 
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