A rare 10.38-carat purple-pink diamond, believed to have been owned by Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, is going up for auction soon. The kite-shaped diamond, known as the Marie-Thérèse Pink Diamond, is estimated to go between $3,000,000 and $5,000,000. According to lore, Marie Antoinette entrusted her jewels to her coiffeur on the eve of the [read more]
Read part three here. Eleanor and Francis had no children together but she became a stepmother to the children from his first marriage to Claude of France. She was particularly close to his eldest son, also named Francis, and was heartbroken when he died in 1536. While she was kept informed of her daughter’s health [read more]
Read part two here. Rumours soon arose that Eleanor was having a love affair with her stepson, now King John III of Portugal. These rumours travelled as far as Poland and included that she was pregnant with John’s child. If there was any truth in the rumours, there was no way she would be allowed [read more]
Read part one here. The Polish match never materialised as Maximilian realised his matchmaking skills were lacking. Especially in the case of Isabella, where he recognised Isabella had married a man who led an “unpleasant and shameful life” with a mistress. And so he decided “to postpone that [match] of Poland until I can recognise [read more]
Eleanor of Austria was born on 15 November 1498 in Brussels as the eldest child of the future Joanna, Queen of Castile and Philip I, King of Castile. Joanna had been visited by her parents’ ambassador in August 1498, and he wrote to Queen Isabella, “She is so gentle and so beautiful and fat and [read more]
Read part one here. Since meeting King Henry IV of France in the early 1590s, Gabrielle d’Estrées had risen through the ranks at court, becoming the King’s official mistress, being named a Duchess, and even earning a place on the King’s council. She was Henry’s romantic partner but also played a very important role in [read more]
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