Beatrice of Provence

Beatrice of Provence
Queen Beatrice from the Bible of Naples
Countess of Provence and Forcalquier
Reign	19 August 1245 – 23 September 1267
Predecessor	Raymond Berenguer IV
Successor	Charles II
Queen consort of Sicily
Tenure	26 February 1266 – 23 September 1267
Born	c. 1234
Died	23 September 1267 (aged 32–33)
Spouse	Charles I of Sicily
Issue	Blanche, Lady of Béthune and Dendermonde Beatrice, Empress of Constantinople Charles II of Naples Philip, Prince of Achaïea Isabelle, Queen of Hungary
House	Barcelona
Father	Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Forcalquier
Mother	Beatrice of Savoy

Beatrice of Provence (c. 1234 – 23 September 1267), was Countess of Provence and Forcalquier since 1245, Countess consort of Anjou and Maine since 1247, and Queen consort of Sicily and Naples since 1266 until her death.

She was the fourth and youngest daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and Forcalquier by his wife Beatrice, in turn daughter of Count Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva.

Beatrice, like her sisters, mother and grandmother was known for her beauty. A description of Beatrice said she

"set men's hearts thumping and the fingers of troubadours to fevered twanging of lyres. Two of the balladists at the Provencal court were temporarily deprived of reason for love of the entrancing Beatrice"

All Ramon Berenguer IV's three older daughters married very well: The eldest, Margaret, was Queen of France as the wife of Louis IX; the second, Eleanor, was Queen of England as the wife of Henry III, and the third, Sanchia, was titular Queen of Germany as the wife of Henry's brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall. King Louis IX's marriage to Margaret had been arranged by his mother, Blanche of Castile, with the hopes that he would inherit Provence and Forcalquier when her father died.

However, in his will signed on 20 June 1238 at Sisteron, Ramon Berenguer IV unexpectedly left the Counties of Provence and Forcalquier to his youngest and still unmarried daughter, Beatrice.