There were not many women who governed France. Under the Ancien Régime, in fact, the rules of succession prohibited the female sex from acceding to the throne of France. The only times when they could play a role were those times of transition when the king was too young to exercise his personal power. It was during these regencies that they were able to take the reins of the kingdom to compensate for the vulnerability of their son.
The concern is that these periods were also often the most perilous for the monarchy. All the suppressed ambitions of the greats of the kingdom then tended to come to light, to the point of sometimes being unleashed and threatening civil peace. This is what happened to Catherine de Medici in the 16th century. century with his sons during the Wars of Religion. This is what also happened to Anne of Austria in the XVII th century with the troubles of the Fronde, the exercise of political power then requiring, between firmness and flexibility, sharp capacities to navigate between the reefs.
We can say that from the death of Louis XIII, who nevertheless mistrusted this Spanish wife, Anne of Austria was able, against all odds, to impose herself as regent and triumph over adversity. She also knew how to rely on an Italian cardinal, Mazarin, who proved to be a great master of politics. At this astonishing moment in history, two foreigners defended the interests of the French crown like no other. Without them, without this godfather, without his mother, Louis Dieudonné, "the child of the miracle", could not have begun a reign so long and so great that it became for posterity the "century of Louis XIV". /P>