Marguerite de Valois (1553–1615), known as Queen Margot, was the daughter of King Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici. Henry of Navarre married her in 1572, only a few days before the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Remaining at court after her husband’s flight, she later joined him at Nérac in 1579. A subsequent quarrel led to her return to court, but she was expelled by Henry III in 1583 after conspiring with the Duke of Alençon. Her husband received her at Nérac, but had her confined to the Château of Usson from 1587 to 1605. She ultimately consented to the annulment of their marriage in 1599, following the death of Gabrielle d’Estrées. She left behind both Poetry and Memoirs.
The second wife was Marie de’ Medici, born in Florence in 1573. Henry IV married her in 1600, and she bore him six children. Following the assassination of Henry IV in 1610, she became regent and, advised by Concini, pursued a policy of rapprochement with Spain. In 1617, Louis XIII had Concini assassinated and his mother imprisoned at Blois. She escaped, took up arms against her son, was later reconciled with him, but in 1630, after attempting to overthrow Richelieu, fled abroad, where she died in 1642.
