Anne of Austria

For other women named Anne of Austria, see Anna of Austria (disambiguation)

Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria by Peter Paul Rubens
Queen consort of France and Navarre
Tenure	24 November 1615 – 14 May 1643
Spouse	Louis XIII of France
Issue
Louis XIV of France Philippe, Duke of Orléans
House	House of Habsburg
Father	Philip III and II of Spain and Portugal
Mother	Margaret of Austria
Born	(1601-09-22)22 September 1601 Benavente Palace, Valladolid, Spain
Died	20 January 1666(1666-01-20) (aged 64) Paris, France
Burial	Basilica of Saint-Denis, Paris, France
Signature
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Anne of Austria (22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen consort of France and Navarre, regent for her son, Louis XIV of France, and a Portuguese and Spanish Infanta by birth. During her regency (1643–1651) Cardinal Mazarin served as France's chief minister. Accounts of French court life of her era emphasize her difficult marital relations with her husband Louis XIII, her closeness to her son Louis XIV, and her disapproval of her son's marital infidelities.

Early life

Anne at the age of six, 1607.

Born at Benavente Palace in Valladolid, Spain, and baptised Ana María Mauricia, she was the eldest daughter of King Philip III of Spain and his wife Margaret of Austria. She held the titles Infanta of Spain and of Portugal (since her father was king of Portugal as well as Spain) and Archduchess of Austria. In spite of her birth in Spain, she was referred to as Anne of Austria because the Habsburg rulers of Spain were of Austrian origin. Furthermore, her mother was the daughter of the Austrian Archduke Charles II of Austria.

Anne was raised mainly at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. Exceptionally for a royal princess, Anne grew up close to her parents, who were very religious. She was raised to be religious too, and was often taken to visit monasteries during her childhood. In 1611, she lost her mother, who died in childbirth. Despite her grief, Anne did her best to take care of her younger siblings, who referred to her with affection as their mother.

Life in France

Marriage

Anne was betrothed at age 11 to King Louis XIII of France. Her father gave her a dowry of 500,000 crowns and many beautiful jewels. For fear that Louis XIII would die early, the Spanish court stipulated that she would return to Spain with her dowry, jewels, and wardrobe if he did die. Prior to the marriage, Anne renounced all succession rights she had had for herself and her descendants by Louis, with a provision that she would resume her rights should she be left a childless widow. On 24 November 1615, Louis and Anne were married by proxy in Burgos while Louis's sister, Elizabeth, and Anne's brother, Philip IV of Spain, were married by proxy in Bordeaux. These marriages followed the tradition of cementing military and political alliances between France and Spain that began with the marriage of Philip II of Spain to Elisabeth of Valois in 1559 as part of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Anne and Elisabeth were exchanged on the Isle of Pheasants between Hendaye and Fuenterrabía.

Anne was lively and beautiful during her youth. She was also a noted equestrian, a taste her son, Louis, would inherit. At the time, Anne had many admirers, including the handsome Duke of Buckingham, although her intimates believed their flirtations remained chaste.

Royal Monogram as Queen of France

Anne and Louis, both 14 years old, were pressured to consummate their marriage in order to forestall any possibility of future annulment, but Louis ignored his bride. Louis's mother, Marie de' Medici, continued to conduct herself as queen of France, without showing any deference to her daughter-in-law. Anne, surrounded by her entourage of high-born Spanish ladies-in-waiting, continued to live according to Spanish etiquette and failed to improve her French.

In 1617, Louis conspired with Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes, to dispense with the influence of his mother in a palace coup d'état and had her favorite Concino Concini assassinated on 26 April of that year. During the years he was in the ascendancy, the Duke of Luynes attempted to remedy the formal distance between Louis and his queen. He sent away the Spanish ladies and replaced them with French ones, notably the Princesse of Conti (Louise Marguerite of Lorraine) and his wife Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, with whom he organized court events that would bring the couple together under amiable circumstances. Anne began to dress in the French manner, and in 1619 Luynes pressed the king to bed his queen. Some affection developed, to the point where it was noted that Louis was distracted during a serious illness of the queen.

A series of miscarriages disenchanted the king and served to chill their relations. On 14 March 1622, while playing with her ladies, Anne fell on a staircase and suffered her second miscarriage. Louis blamed her for the incident and was angry with the Duchess of Luynes for having encouraged the queen in what was seen as negligence. Henceforth, the king had less tolerance for the influence the duchess had over Anne, and the situation deteriorated after the death of her husband Luynes in December 1621. The king's attention was monopolized by his war against the Protestants, while the queen defended the remarriage of her inseparable companion Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, center of all court intrigue, to her lover Claude, Duke of Chevreuse, in 1622.

Louis turned now to Cardinal Richelieu as his advisor. Richelieu's foreign policy of struggle against the Habsburgs, who surrounded France on two fronts, inevitably created tension between himself and Anne, who remained childless for another sixteen years, while Louis depended ever more on Richelieu, who was his first minister from 1624 until his death in 1642.

Under the influence of Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, the queen let herself be drawn into political opposition to Richelieu and became embroiled in several intrigues against his policies. Vague rumors of betrayal circulated in the court, notably her supposed involvement with the conspiracies of the Count of Chalais that Marie organized in 1626, then those of the king's treacherous favorite, Cinq-Mars, who had been introduced to him by Richelieu.

In 1635, France declared war on Spain, placing the queen in an untenable position. Her secret correspondence with her brother Philip IV of Spain passed beyond the requirements of sisterly affection. In August 1637, Anne came under so much suspicion that Richelieu forced her to sign covenants regarding her correspondence, which was henceforth open to inspection. Her favourite Marie was exiled and close watch was kept on the queen.

Birth of an Heir

Louis XIII, Anne, and their son Louis XIV, flanked by Cardinal Richelieu and the Duchesse de Chevreuse.

Anne with her sons: the future King Louis XIV of France, and Philippe I, Duke of Orléans.

They saw in the arms of this princess whom they had watched suffer great persecutions with so much staunchness, their child-King, like a gift given by Heaven in answer to their prayers.

—Madame de Motteville, Memoires

Surprisingly, in such a climate of distrust, the queen was pregnant once more, a circumstance that contemporary gossip attributed to a single stormy night that prevented Louis from travelling to Saint-Maur and obliged him to spend the night with the queen. Louis XIV was born on 5 September 1638, an event that secured the Bourbon line. At this time, Anne was thirty-seven. The official newspaper Gazette de France called the birth "a marvel when it was least expected".

The birth soon afterwards of a second son failed to re-establish confidence between the royal couple. It was at Saint-Germain-en-Laye that Anne gave birth to her second son, Philippe de France, Duke of Anjou, and later the founder of the modern House of Orléans.

Richelieu made Louis XIII a gift of his palatial hôtel, the Palais Cardinal, north of the Louvre, in 1636, but the king never took possession of it. Anne fled the Louvre Palace to install herself there with her two small sons and remained as regent (hence the name Palais-Royal that the structure still carries). Louis tried to prevent Anne from obtaining the regency after his death, which came in 1643, not long after that of Richelieu.

Regent of France

Anne in her later years; she never lost her love for magnificent jewellery, and she especially loved bracelets, which emphasized her famously beautiful hands.

Anne was named regent upon her husband's death in spite of her late husband's wishes. With the aid of Pierre Séguier, she had the Parlement de Paris revoke the will of the late king, which would have limited her powers. Their four-year-old son was crowned King Louis XIV of France. Anne assumed the regency but to general surprise entrusted the government to the chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, who was a protégé of Cardinal Richelieu and figured among the council of the regency. Mazarin left the Hôtel Tuboeuf to take up residence at the Palais Royal near Queen Anne. Before long he was believed to be her lover, and, it was hinted, even her husband.

With Mazarin's support, Anne overcame the revolt of aristocrats, led by Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, that became known as the Fronde. In 1651, when her son Louis XIV officially came of age, her regency legally ended. However, she kept much power and influence over her son until the death of Mazarin.

Later life

Anne with her beloved niece and daughter-in-law, Maria Theresa of Spain, and grandson, Louis.

In 1659, the war with Spain ended with the Treaty of the Pyrenees. The following year, peace was cemented by the marriage of the young King to Anne's niece, the Spanish Habsburg princess Maria Theresa of Spain.

In 1661, the same year as the death of Mazarin, an heir to the throne was born, Anne's first grandchild Louis. Many other children would follow, but all would die in the legitimate line except for Louis. Some time after, Anne retired to the convent of Val-de-Grâce, where she died of breast cancer five years later. Her lady-in-waiting Madame de Motteville wrote the story of the queen's life in her Mémoires d'Anne d'Autriche. Many view her as a brilliant and cunning woman and she is one of the central figures in Alexandre Dumas, père's novel, The Three Musketeers and its sequels.

Issue

The couple had the following children:

Name	Lifespan	Notes
stillborn child	December 1619
stillborn child	14 March 1622	was said to have lived through birth
stillborn child	1626
stillborn child	April 1631
Louis XIV of France	5 September 1638 – 1 September 1715	Married Infanta Maria Theresa of Spain (1638–1683) in 1660. Had issue.
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans	21 September 1640 – 8 June 1701	married (1) Princess Henrietta Anne of England (1644–1670) in 1661. Had issue. Married (2) Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (1652–1722) in 1671. Had issue.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 22 September 1601 – 8 April 1605 Her Highness The Princess of Portugal
• 8 April 1605 – 24 November 1615 Her Highness The Infanta Ana
• 24 November 1615 – 14 May 1643 Her Most Christian Majesty The Queen
• 14 May 1643 – 20 January 1666 Her Most Christian Majesty The Dowager Queen

In arts

She is one of the central figures in Alexandre Dumas's novel, The Three Musketeers and its sequel Twenty Years After and has thus been portrayed in countless film adaptations. One of the most recent is The Three Musketeers (2011 film), in which she is portrayed by English actress Juno Temple. She was played by Gabrielle Anwar in The Three Musketeers (1993).

External links

• A very complete portrait gallery of Anne of Austria and her husband Louis XIII

References

Anne of Austria Spanish Habsburgs Born: 22 September 1601 Died: 20 January 1666
French royalty
Preceded by Marie de' Medici	Queen consort of France 24 May 1615 – 14 May 1643	Succeeded by Maria Theresa of Spain
	Queen consort of Navarre 24 November 1615 – 1620	Unification with France titularly Maria Theresa of Austria
Royal titles
Preceded by Philip (who became Philip II)	Princess of Portugal 1601–1605	Succeeded by Philip (who became Philip III)