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Maria de Medici

Marie de' Medici
Maria de Medici by Frans Pourbus or Scipione Pulzone.jpg
Queen consort of France and Navarre
Tenure 17 December 1600 – 14 May 1610
Coronation 13 May 1610
Born (1575-04-26)26 April 1575
Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Tuscany
Died 3 July 1642(1642-07-03) (aged 67)
Cologne, Holy Roman Empire
Burial Basilica of St Denis, Paris, France
Spouse Henry IV of France
Issue
House Medici
Father Francesco I, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Mother Joanna of Austria
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature
Styles of
Queen Marie of France as consort
CoA of Marie of Medicis.png
Reference style Her Majesty
Spoken style Your Majesty
Alternative style Madam

Marie de' Medici (French: Marie de Médicis, Italian: Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France as the second wife of King Henry IV of France, of the House of Bourbon. She was a member of the wealthy and powerful House of Medici. Following the assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, she acted as regent for her son, King Louis XIII of France, until he came of age. She was noted for her ceaseless political intrigues at the French court and extensive artistic patronage.

She was born as Maria at the Palazzo Pitti of Florence, Italy, the sixth daughter of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. Marie was one of seven children, but only she and her sister Eleonora survived to adulthood.

Marie is not a male-line descendant of Lorenzo the Magnificent but from Lorenzo the Elder, a branch of the Medici family sometimes referred to as the 'cadet' branch. She does descend from Lorenzo in the female-line however, through his daughter Lucrezia de' Medici. Nonetheless this 'cadet' branch produced every Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1537 to 1737, and the kings of France from Louis XIII in 1601 to Louis XVI in 1793. This cadet branch (Marie's line) is already 700 years old, beginning with Averardo de' Medici in 1320 and flourishes to this day with Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou.


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