They say that when Catherine de Médicis , daughter of the powerful lord of Florence Lorenzo II de' Medici, married Henry, the youngest son of King Francis I of France, she did it completely in love, but very soon discovered that for her better half it was only a political marriage. In 1547, after the death of his father and his older brother, he was crowned King of France Henry II and, logically, Catalina queen consort… although not a partner in the conjugal bed. For these tasks, Henry had his official lover, Diana de Poitiers Twenty years older than him. Catalina, knowing that protesting that situation was not going to bring her any benefit, accepted it…apparently. She was queen and her children would be the heirs to the throne, but children can hardly be fathered if there is no carnal contact. So, she tried to be submissive to her husband and win Diana's favor, to the point of becoming so friendly that she was the king's own mistress who forced him to fulfill her marital obligations. And finally, the first son arrived, and the second, and the third... up to ten.
Catherine de Medici
During the reign of Henry II there were constant clashes with the kings of Spain, Carlos I and Felipe II, and with the Huguenots (French Protestants). After the signing of peace with Spain, he married his daughter Isabel de Valois with Felipe II. During the celebration a tournament was held in which Henry II wanted to participate and, accidentally, was injured in the head by a broken lance during the joust. Days later he passed away. In 1559, and with only 16 years, he was crowned King of France Francis II , his eldest son married to Mary of Stuart Queen of Scots. In December 1560 the throne of France would become vacant again due to the accidental death of Francisco II. Given the lack of children of Francis II, the heir to the throne was a 9-year-old boy, his brother and the future Charles IX, so his mother, Catherine de Médicis, was appointed regent. Catalina took the reins of a France punished by the differences between Catholics and Huguenots, a kind of religious civil war with external support (Philip II to the Catholics and Elizabeth I of England to the Protestants). Her most imminent problems, inside and outside France, had names and surnames:the brothers Luis and Antonio Borbón , Prince of Condé and King of Navarre respectively, both Huguenots. To counteract her power, Catherine used her large entourage of courtesans, the flying squad . In order to be part of this squad, made up of some 200 courtesans, the girls had to pass a casting in terms of youth, beauty and, above all, absolute fidelity to Catalina. Once inside, they were trained in the art of espionage, seduction, false love, fucking and even murder. In addition, they had to follow some treatments to stay beautiful, thin and not get pregnant; otherwise, they were expelled. To keep her troublesome brothers controlled and watched, she sent two of her best girls... Luis and Antonio stopped being a problem.
The death of the King of Navarre in 1562 left his wife Juana III on the throne, from whom she had obtained the crown by her marriage. This, a fervent Protestant, once again complicated things for Catalina -they did not have a male section in the squadron- and her son Carlos IX . After ten years of constant disputes, Juana died - they say that some gloves scented with a lethal poison that Catalina gave her had something to do with it - and her son Enrique III inherited her throne. . Catalina, seeking peace, made a move. This time she would not use her squad, but her own blood:she married the King of Navarre to her daughter Marguerite de Valois. All fixed…almost. Since her daughter was oblivious to her squad and her intrigues, she decided to send her best girl, Charlotte de Beaune Semblançay, Baroness de Sauve, to control the king… from the bed. Despite all efforts to maintain peace between Catholics and Protestants, the time bomb exploded in Paris on the night of August 23, 1572 in the so-called Massacre of Saint Bartholomew , where thousands of Huguenots were put to the knife.
Massacre of Saint Bartholomew (1572) -François Dubois