Elisabeth of Valois
1546 – 1568 · Generation X · Consort
Elisabeth (1546 – 1568). Consort. Married Philip in 1559. Third wife of Philip II. Born at Fontainebleau, the eldest daughter of Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici, she shared a bedroom in the royal nursery with Mary, Queen of Scots, her friend for life. First promised to Edward VI of England and then to Philip’s son Carlos, she was given instead to the king himself by the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. Her father was fatally wounded in a joust celebrating the proxy wedding, and she did not reach Spain until early 1560. Philip was captivated by his bride, then fourteen, though the court frowned on her slowness to adopt Spanish etiquette and on the dancing she allowed in her rooms. The painter Sofonisba Anguissola became her lady-in-waiting and tutor; she stayed on friendly terms with the unstable Carlos. After a stillbirth and a miscarriage she bore two daughters, Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela, and she died at Aranjuez on the day of another stillbirth.
Place in the family
- Elisabeth of Valois married Philip II of Spain, a son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Partners
- Married Philip II of Spain (1527 – 1598) in 1559
Life
- 1546 — Born
- 1559 — Married Philip
- 1568 — Died