Anne of Austria
Anne of Austria (French: Anne d'Autriche; Spanish: Ana de Austria; born Ana María Mauricia; 22 September 1601 – 20 January 1666) was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown in 1620. After her husband's death, Anne was regent to her son Louis XIV during his minority until 1651.
This article is about the queen consort. For other women named Anne of Austria, see Anna of Austria (disambiguation).Anne of Austria
24 November 1615 – 14 May 1643
24 November 1615 – 20 October 1620
14 May 1643 – 7 September 1651
22 September 1601
Benavente Palace, Valladolid, Crown of Castile
20 January 1666 (aged 64)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Anne was born in Valladolid to King Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria. She was betrothed to King Louis XIII of France in 1612 and they married three years later. The two had a difficult marital relationship, exacerbated by her miscarriages and the anti-Habsburg stance of Louis' first minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Despite a climate of distrust amidst the Franco-Spanish War and sixteen years of childlessness, Anne gave birth to an heir, Louis, in 1638 and a second son, Philippe two years later.
When Louis XIII died in 1643, Anne outmaneuvered her opponents to become sole regent to her four-year-old son, Louis XIV, and appointed Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister. The Fronde, a major revolt by the French nobility against Anne and Mazarin's government, broke out but was ultimately suppressed. In 1651, Anne's regency formally ended when Louis was declared of age. Accounts of French court life of her era emphasize her closeness to her son, and her disapproval of her son's infidelity to her niece and daughter-in-law Maria Theresa.[1] She retired from active politics in 1661 and moved to the convent she had commissioned, Val-de-Grâce, where she died of breast cancer five years later.
In fiction[edit]
She is one of the central figures in Alexandre Dumas's 1844 novel The Three Musketeers and its sequels Twenty Years After (1845) and The Vicomte de Bragelonne (1847-1850), and has thus been portrayed in numerous film adaptations.
Her lady-in-waiting Madame de Motteville wrote the story of the queen's life in her Mémoires d'Anne d'Autriche.
She was portrayed by Geraldine Chaplin in The Three Musketeers (1973 live-action film) and The Four Musketeers (1974 film).
She appears in a French film based on the life of Louis XIV, Le Roi danse, portrayed by Collette Emmanuelle, and King Louis portrayed by Benoît Magimel (2000).
She was portrayed by Alexandra Dowling in the BBC series The Musketeers (2014–2016).
She first appears as a character in the Dinosaur King season two episode "The French Conniption" as a young teen along with a young King Louis and others.
She appeared in Legends of Tomorrow's season two premiere episode "Out of Time", played by Rebecca Roberts.
She appeared in final episode of the third season of series As If, played by Yeşim Ceylan.
She was portrayed by Vicky Krieps in the 2023 French film The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers: Milady.
Anne of Austria has a cameo in Versailles (TV series) (season 1, episode 1).
