Queen of France Anna of Austria. Anna Austrian: biography

The intertwining of bright love stories, intrigues and mysteries in the life of Anne of Austria, the wife of the French King Louis XIII, and to this day inspires writers, artists and poets. What, then, is the truth from all this, and what is artistic fiction?

Spanish Infanta Anna Austrian

Anna Maria Mauricia, Infanta of Spain, was born on September 22, 1601 in the city of Valladolid. Her father was the King of Spain and Portugal, Philip III (from the Habsburg dynasty). The mother was his wife, the daughter of the Austrian Archduke Charles Margaret of Austria.

Anna, as well as her younger sister Maria, was brought up in an atmosphere of strict morals and strict observance of the rules of etiquette inherent in the Spanish royal court. The education received by the infant was very decent for her time: she mastered the basics of European languages, the Holy Writ and the genealogy of her dynasty, she learned needlework and dancing. Anne of Austria, whose portrait was first written when she was only one year old, grew up a sweet and pretty girl, promising to eventually become a true beauty.

The fate of the young princess was predetermined in her earliest years. In 1612, when a war was about to break out between Spain and France, Philip III and Louis XIII, who then held the French throne, signed an agreement. Infanta Spain Anna was to become the wife of the French king, and the sister of Louis XIII Isabella - to marry the son of the monarch of Spain, Prince Philip. Three years later, this agreement was implemented.

Queen and King: Anna of Austria and Louis XIII

In 1615, a fourteen-year-old Spanish Infanta came to France. October 18, she was married to Louis XIII, who was older than his bride for only five days. On the throne of the French state was the Queen, named after Anna of Austria.

Anna at first seemed to really fascinate the king - and yet the family life of the crowned couple did not work out. According to the recollections of contemporaries, the passionate Queen by nature did not like a gloomy and weak husband. A couple of months after the wedding, relations between the spouses noticeably cooled. Louis changed his wife, Anna, too, did not keep him faithful. In addition, she performed well in the field of intrigue, trying to pursue a policy of politics in France.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that the marriage of Louis and Anna remained childless for twenty-three years. Only in 1638 the queen finally managed to give birth to a son, the future of Louis XIV. And two years later, his brother Philip I of Orleans was born.

"Politics You Made a Poet ...": Anne of Austria and Cardinal Richelieu

On the undivided love of a powerful cardinal to the beautiful queen there are many legends, some of which are reflected in the famous works of art.

History indeed confirms that from the very first days of Anna's stay in France her royal mother-in-law, Maria Medici, who during the period of Louis XIII's pre-ordination was the regent, assigned to her daughter-in-law as the confessor of Cardinal Richelieu. Fearing the loss of power in the event that Anna was able to take control of her weak-willed husband, Maria Medici expected that the "red duke", a faithful person, would report on every step of the queen. However, she soon fell into disgrace with her own son and went into exile. The heart of the cardinal, according to rumors, was won by a young beauty Anna Austrian.

Anna, however, according to the same sources, rejected Richelieu's courtship. Perhaps the important difference in age played a role (the queen was twenty-four, the cardinal almost forty). It is also possible that she, brought up in strict religious traditions, simply could not see a man in a clergyman. Whether personal motives actually existed or whether everything was reduced solely to political calculation is certainly unknown. However, between the queen and the cardinal, hostility, based on hatred and intrigue, appears, which at times appears quite openly.

During the life of Louis XIII around the queen formed a party of aristocrats, dissatisfied with the harsh rule of the almighty first minister. In words of the royal, this party actually oriented on the Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs - the enemies of the cardinal on the political stage. Participation in conspiracies against Richelieu finally exacerbated the relationship of the king and the queen - for a long time they lived completely apart.

The Queen and Duke: Anna of Austria and Buckingham

Duke Buckingham and Anna of Austria ... The biography of the beautiful queen is full of romantic legends and secrets, but it was this novel that won the fame of "the love of the whole century."

Three-year-old handsome Englishman George Villiers arrived in Paris in 1625, having a diplomatic mission - to organize the marriage of his King Charles, who recently came to the throne, with the sister of the French monarch Henrietta. The visit of the Duke of Buckingham to the royal residence turned out to be fatal. When she saw Anne of Austria, he spent the rest of his life trying to achieve her location.

The secret talks between the queen and the duke are silent, but if you believe the memoirs of their contemporaries, the story of the pendants, described by Alexander Dumas in the immortal novel of the three musketeers, did take place. However, it did without the participation of D'Artagnan - the really existing Gascon at that time was only five years ...

Regardless of the return of the decoration, the king from the filing of Richelieu finally quarreled with his wife. Queen Anne of Austria was isolated in the palace, and Buckingham was banned from entering France. The furious duke swore to return to Paris with the triumph of military victory. He provided support from the sea to rebel Protestants of the French fortress-port of La Rochelle. However, the French army managed to repel the first attack of the British and take the city to siege. In the midst of preparations for the second offensive of the fleet, in 1628, Buckingham was assassinated in Portsmouth by an officer named Felton. There is an assumption (however, it is not proved) that this man was a spy of the cardinal.

The news of the death of Lord Buckingham stunned Anna of Austria. Since then, her confrontation with Cardinal Richelieu reaches its climax and lasts until the death of the latter.

The Regent Queen. Anna of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin

Richelieu died in 1642, and a year later the king died. Anne of Austria received a regency with a young son. Parliament and the nobility, who supported the queen in this, expected to restore their rights, weakened by the policy of Richelieu.

However, this was not destined to happen. Anna gave her trust to the successor of Richelieu, the Italian Mazarin. The latter, having accepted the cardinal order, continued the political course of his predecessor. After a heavy internal struggle with the Fronde and a number of foreign policy successes, he further consolidated the position of the ministers at the French court.

There is a version that the Queen and Mazarin were connected not only by friendship, but also by love relations. Anna Anna of Austria herself, whose biography is known locally from her words, refuted this. However, in the people of evil verses and jokes about the cardinal and the queen were very popular.

After the death of Mazarin in 1661, the queen felt that her son was already old enough to rule the country on his own. She allowed herself to carry out an old desire - to retire to the monastery of Val de Gras, where she lived the last five years of her life. January 20, 1666, Anna Austria was gone. The main secret - which more was in the history of this French queen: truth or fiction - will never be revealed ...