Claude of France (1547–1575)
| Claude of Valois | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Duchess consort of Lorraine | |
| Tenure | 19 January 1559 – 21 February 1575 |
| Born |
12 November 1547 Fontainebleau |
| Died | 21 February 1575 (aged 27) Nancy |
| Spouse | Charles III, Duke of Lorraine |
| Issue |
|
| House | Valois-Angoulême |
| Father | Henry II of France |
| Mother | Catherine de' Medici |
Claude of France (12 November 1547, Fontainebleau – 21 February 1575, Nancy) was a French Princess as the second daughter of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici, and Duchess consort of Lorraine by marriage to Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.
Claude was born in Fontainebleau, but as she was believed to have been conceived at Chateau d'Anet, she was nicknamed as 'Mademoiselle d'Anet' at court, a nickname that displeased her mother.
Claude was raised alongside her sister Elisabeth, the future Queen of Spain, and her future sister-in-law, Mary, Queen of Scots. The royal children were raised under the supervision of the governor and governess of the royal children, Jean d'Humières and his wife Françoise d'Humières, under the orders of Diane de Poitiers.
Claude was victim of the unhealthy traits that Catherine appeared to pass on to all her children with the exception of Marguerite, and suffered from a hunchback and a club foot, and during her childhood she was frequently vulnerable to various child diseases.
On 19 January 1559, at the age of 11, she married Charles III, Duke of Lorraine in the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. The marriage was arranged as a symbolic union of peace between France and Lorraine, after Charles III had spent his childhood as a hostage at the French royal court, and completed after the Treaty of Chateau-Cambresis. Claude departed to Lorraine with her spouse in late 1559, shortly before the departure of her sister Elisabeth to Spain and her aunt Marguerite to Savoy.
The relationship between Claude and Charles III was described as a happy one. Claude was a favorite of her mother, who occasionally visited her in Lorraine, visits described as rare occasions of private family gatherings in the life of Catherine de Medici, who enjoyed to see her grandchildren by Claude and also liked her son-in-law Charles very much. Catherine de Medici was, for example, present in Bar-le-Duc for the baptism of Claude's firstborn son Henry. The distance between France and Lorraine being so short, Claude would also make constant visits to her mother and the French royal court, sometime in the company of her spouse and children.
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