About Me
I was born Marguerite de Valois at the Royal Château in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on May 14, 1553--nicknamed Margot by my elder brothers--as was the youngest daughter of Henri II and Catherine de Medici. Three of her brothers became kings of France: François II, Charles IX, and Henri III. We, along with the Scots Queen Marie Stuart--Francois' fiancee--all grew up under the watchful eye of Diane de Poitiers, Duchesse de Valentinois, as well as those of Marie Stuart's uncles the Guises. Negotiations were arranged for my older sister Elisabeth to become the third wife of King Philip II of Spain, and their weddingcoincided with Francois and Marie's. I, however, had no such grand schemes in mind and desired only Henri, Duc de Guise, but my ambitious mother would not allow the Guises another foothold in the power struggle over France, so negotiations opened with Philip II's son Don Carlos but that did not work out, nor did those with Dom Sebastian of Portugal. Finally, I was made to marry Henri de Bourbon (the future Henri IV), the son of the Protestant Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, a marriage that was designed to reunite family ties and create harmony between the Catholics and Huguenots. Although Henri's mother, Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre, opposed the marriage, many of her nobles supported it, and the marriage was arranged. Jeanne d'Albret died before the marriage was concluded--possibly poisoned by mine own mother.On August 18, 1572, I married Henri de Bourbon, who had become King of Navarre on the death of his mother. The groom, a Huguenot, remained outside the church for much of the wedding. It during the ceremony, the bride and groom stared straight ahead, never looking at each other. When the Cardinal asked me if I willingly took Henri to be her husband, she did not answer; so King Charles IX, placed a hand on his my head, compelling me to nod in agreement.Just six days after the wedding, on St Bartholomew's Day, Catherine de Medici orchestrated the slaughter by French Catholics of thousands of Huguenots, a massacre of such brutality that even Russia's Ivan the Terrible condemned it. Diplomatic ties with England and other Protestant countries cooled, and Catholics the world over mourned. It was not a wedding gift that would bode well for my marriage.
After the marriage and turmoil, Henri escaped Paris back to Navarre, leaving me behind. Under the control of my brother, King Henri III (Francois having died within a year of ascending the throne, and Charles IX after that), I became a virtual prisoner in mine own home. Finally granted permission to return to my husband, for the next three and a half years Henri and I lived a scandalous life in Pau. Both openly kept lovers and quarrelled frequently. After an illness in 1582, I returned to her brother's court in France. But Henri III soon scandalized my reputation and forced me to leave the court. After long negotiations, I was allowed to return to Henri'scourt in Navarre, but there I received an icy reception. Determined to overcome my difficulties, I master-minded a coup d'etat and seized power over Agen, one of my appenages. After several months of fortifying the city, the citizens of Agen revolted and I fled to the castle of Carlat. In 1586, I was imprisoned by Henri III in the castle of Usson, in Auvergne, where I spent eighteen years. In 1592 negotiations began to dissolve my marriage to Henri IV. It would take seven years, but they were concluded in 1599 with an agreement that allowed me to maintain the title of queen. My ex-husband soon became one of France's most beloved monarchs.Beautiful and strong-minded, I took many lovers, notably Joseph Boniface de La Môle, Jacques de Harlay, Seigneur de Chanvallon and Bussy d'Amboise.Once peace was made with Henri and his new wife Marie de Medici, I became a court fixture, planning events, mentoring the arts and benefacting of the poor, as well as caring for Henri and Marie's children.
