Charlotte of Valois – Princess of France
Charlotte was born in the Château d’Amboise, on 23rd October 1516.
She was the second daughter of King Francis I and Queen Claude.
Charlotte had greenish blue eyes and bright red hair. She was one of the six children of the King and Queen that had red hair – a trait inherited from Anne of Brittany, Claude’s mother.
Charlotte lived a happy charmed life, moving between the Château d’Amboise to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Following the death of her older sister Louise in 1518, Charlotte took her place as the fiancée of King Charles I of Spain, under the Treaty of Noyon.
Sadly, the marriage would never come to fruition.
The Princess had always been a delicate, frail child.
At the age of seven, she became ill with measles.
As her mother had already died two months earlier, the person who looked after her while she was sick, was her aunt Margaret of Angoulême.
Charlotte was very close to her aunt, who was heartbroken and distraught when her “little one” succumbed to the disease on 18th September 1524.
🌹 Princess Charlotte of Valois, ca. 1517.
Jean Clouet