Princess Marie Élisabeth of France

Marie Elisabeth of France (27 October 1572 – 2 April 1578) was a French princess and member of the House of Valois. She was the only child of King Charles IX of France and Elisabeth of Austria. Marie Elisabeth’s maternal grandparents were Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria of Spain, and her paternal grandparents were Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Life Born at the Louvre Palace in Paris, France, she was loved by her parents despite their inevitable disappointment that she was not the male heir for which they hoped. She was baptised almost four months later, on 2 February 1573 in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Despite the religious and political controversy stemming from the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre (which had occurred only two months before her birth), one of her godmothers was the Protestant queen Elizabeth I of England, who sent William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester as her proxy for the ceremony. Her other godmother and namesake was her maternal grandmother, the Holy Roman Empress, and her godfather was Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. She was raised under the supervision of her governess, Isabelle de Crissé. When Marie Elisabeth was less than two years old her father, King Charles IX, died and her uncle became Henry III of France. Hardly a year later, her mother returned to Vienna after Maximilian II repaid her dowry, while Marie Elisabeth, as a Daughter of France, remained behind. She was less than three years old at the time. Elisabeth and Marie said their farewells at the Château d'Amboise on 28 August 1575, never to see each other again.