Anna of Austria and Anna Stewart. The fate of these two women has something in common: both were at the head of great states, both were married for political reasons, both lived in an atmosphere of intrigue and conspiracy, and in addition, their life paths crossed in time, albeit a little. But one was quite pleased with her husband, while the other was exhausted by his coldness. The first became the heroine of the brightest, albeit unfortunate love affair in the history of France, while the second could not give her husband an heir, although she was pregnant 17 times.
Both Great Britain and France had queens called Annas. But each has its own life path and the history of coming to power, described below. Also from this article it will be possible to learn about what is common between the Stuart dynasty and the pirate Blackbeard, and whether the Gascon D'Artagnan really went to England for pendants, saving the honor of his queen.
Anne of Austria: origins
The future Queen of France was born and raised in 1601 in Valladolid (Spain). Her pedigree included the Habsburgs - one of the most influential and powerful ruling dynasties in the wholemedieval Europe, Austrian in origin. The upbringing of the young infanta was more than strict: the Spanish court was distinguished by its restrained morals, modest attire and great religiosity. Having inherited blond curly hair and snow-white skin from her mother, the future Queen Anne was known as the first beauty of Europe and, in addition, an enviable bride, since the Habsburgs had a huge influence on the politics of that time.
Marriage union
It is known that crowned persons can neither marry nor marry for love. Their parents decide everything for them, and children often become bargaining chips in the political game. The same thing happened with Anna. When she was only three years old, her parents betrothed her cousin Ferdinand. But in 1610, France was ruled by Marie de Medici, who was very eager to conclude a diplomatic alliance with Spain, because both countries were on the brink of war. To save the situation, in 1612 they agreed on two marriages - the French princess Isabella and the Spanish Infante Philip, as well as King Louis XIII and Anna, later named Austrian. So, at the age of 11, the future of the young infanta was determined, and after 3 years she was brought to Paris for the wedding ceremony.
Failed family life
At first, young Louis, who was the same age as Anna, was captivated by the beauty of his wife, but that's all - they did not experience any family happiness. The king was cold, preferred to spend time with favorites, cheated openly, did not pay attention to his wife at all, but insteadspent time hunting. Their family was childless for 23 years, only in 1638, and then in 1640, Anna gave birth to sons. In addition, the king's mother, who once arranged this marriage, tried in every possible way to quarrel the spouses, slipping mistresses to her son, and also wanted to convince him that Queen Anne was immoral, because she spent a lot of time in the company of the king's brother.
Anna, on the contrary, was alien to the debauchery and emancipation of the French court, where betrayal of her husband and all sorts of liberties were in the order of things. And although many at one time courted her, even Cardinal Richelieu himself, she rejected gentlemen with enviable stamina.
Only once did her heart break.
Duke of Buckingham
In 1625, he arrived in the retinue of the English king Charles I for the courtship of Louis XIII's sister Henrietta. Buckingham was tall, good-looking, gallant, and even had a reputation for being a skilled dancer. This heartthrob easily won the heart of Anna, who lacked her husband's attention. And soon Buckingham himself fell in love with the beautiful wife of the king. A few dances, a couple of secret dates - and the Duke had to leave, accompanying the future Queen of England to London.
History with pendants
When parting in Boulogne, Queen Anne gave him 12 diamond pendants - a gift from her husband. They figured in the novel by Dumas. The crafty Richelieu found out about this and reported to the king, who asked Anna to wear her gift to the upcoming ball. If the fact that theyat Buckingham, an international scandal would have been unavoidable. The queen could be accused of treason, and war could break out between countries. For the success of his plan, Richelieu temporarily suspended all the faithful servants of the queen so that she could not send a messenger to London.
Meanwhile, the cardinal sent a letter to England to one of the duke's mistresses, Lady Clarick, and asked to steal the jewel, of course, for a fee. She furtively cut off two pendants at the masquerade, where the duke put on a gift from the queen. But Buckingham's valet noticed the loss. In one night, an exact copy of the missing elements was made (although there was no time left to cut real diamonds, it was a skillful fake), and the jewel was delivered to Paris, despite the fact that all the ports of England were closed. Alas, it was not the Gascon D'Artagnan who did this, because the character was actually 5 years old that year.
Anne of Austria, Queen of France, wore pendants to the ball and thereby saved herself from certain death.
Influence on politics
It is surprising that relations between the states in which they lived directly depended on the development of a love affair between Anna and Buckingham. In 1628, these countries were already on the brink of war, since Louis forbade the duke to enter the territory of France, and he was desperately looking for meetings with his beloved. Of course, it is not completely known whether these were real feelings or a political calculation, and also whether love was purely platonic, these are already the secrets of the queen. Anna of Austria all the time of separation exchanged letters with the duke, wearing both personal,and political character. But here the almighty Richelieu intervened again. Most likely, it was on his orders that Buckingham was killed in 1628 by the religious fanatic Felton.
Anna of Austria tried her best to bring France and Spain closer together, but the cardinal opposed this, so they became bitter enemies. Queen Anne, whose revenge for the death of Buckingham was expressed in constant conspiracies against Richelieu, only somehow reconciled with him towards the end of his life.
Since Louis died in 1643, and the future successor was at the age of 5, Anna was the regent of France from 1643 to 1651. During these years, her right hand was the new Cardinal Giulio Mazarin.
In fact, he ruled the country, not Anna of Austria, Queen of France. There is evidence that they were united not only by politics. When her son Louis began to rule, she was a member of the Royal Council until 1661. Anne of Austria died in 1666 from breast cancer.
Anna - Queen of England
She was born in 1665. Queen Anne became the last representative of the Stuart dynasty on the English throne. Her uncle, King Charles of England, raised her and her elder sister Mary as Protestants. Her father was a Catholic, and therefore did not have the support of the people, as a result of which he was overthrown from the throne. But her sister Maria sat on the throne with her husband Wilhelm, after whose death it was Anna who got the reins of government. So, from 1702 she became the queen of England and Scotland, and from 1707 to 1714, i.e. to death, Anna is queenUK.
Family
Although her marriage was also appointed for diplomatic reasons (the Danish prince George became her husband, since Denmark was loyal to the Protestants), but the spouses were faithful and devoted to each other. The only thing that marred their happiness was the absence of children. Although Anna had 17 pregnancies, they ended either in the death of newborns or miscarriages.
Government activity
During her reign, a two-party system began to operate in parliament. An alliance was also concluded with Scotland, which became part of the United Kingdom. In addition, England participated in the War of the Spanish Succession, which resulted in new colonies in the Americas. The period of Anna's reign was quite calm and favorable for the development of culture, economy, science.
Ship "Queen Anne's Revenge"
In 1763, the British Empire defeated its mighty rivals - France and Spain. From that time on, she became the mistress of the seas.
According to the laws of wartime, it was not illegal to rob enemy ships: to become a pirate, one had only to obtain a license. This is what Edward Teach, who later became known as Blackbeard, did.
On one of his campaigns in 1717, he captured the French slave ship Concorde and made it his flagship, before giving it a new name - Queen Anne's Revenge.
There is a version that he wanted to pretend that he did not know about the end of the war and the death of the queen, thereby declaring that he acted in her interests. Others suggest that this refers to the maiden Boleyn - another Queen Anne, revenge for whose death was personified by the actions of the pirates, but this version is far from the truth.
Edward Teach equipped the ship with 40 guns, it had a crew of 300 sailors. For a whole year, Blackbeard hunted on this terrifying ship in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. He boarded and plundered dozens of ships. In 1718, a ship ran aground off the coast of South Carolina.
These were the main facts from the biography of both queens - Anne of Austria and Anne Stuart. First of all, they were just women, not just statesmen. And, unfortunately, both could not fully experience happiness in their personal lives. Perhaps if they were not born into families of monarchs, things would have turned out differently.
