Christine of France - Duchess and Regent of Savoy

Duchess and Regent of Savoy

Victor Amadeus became Duke after the death of his father in 26 July 1630. When her husband died in 1637, she was created regent in the name of her son Francis Hyacinth. At the death of Francis Hyacinth in 1638, her second son Charles Emmanuel II succeeded and Christine retained the regency. Both Prince Maurice and his younger brother Prince Thomas of Savoy disputed the power of their sister-in-law, and her French entourage. When the first heir Francis Hyacinth died in 1638, both brothers started the Piedmontese Civil War, with Spanish support. The two parties were called "principisti" (supporters of the Princes) and "madamisti" (supporters of Madama Reale). Christine was notorious as much for her capricious rule as for her many lovers, a trait from her father Henry IV who was famed for his many lovers also.

After four years of fighting, Christine was victorious, thanks to French military support. Not only did she keep the Duchy for her son, she also prevented France getting too much power in the Duchy. When peace was concluded in 1642, Maurice married his fourteen-year old niece Louise Christine, abandoning the title of cardinal and asking dispensation from Pope Paul V. Maurice became governor of Nice. Christine of France stayed in firm control of the Duchy of Savoy, until her son could follow in her footsteps; her formal regency ended in 1648, but she remained de facto in charge until her death.

She lived an uninhibited private life and had relationships with the French Ambassador, Marini, her brother-in-law, Maurizio, and Count Filippo d'Aglié, a handsome learned and courageous man who remained faithful to her all her life. On 4 March 1663 she saw her son Charles Emmanuel marry her niece Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans in a proxy wedding. Françoise Madeleine was the youngest surviving daughter of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, her youngest brother. She died at the Palazzo Madama, Turin in 1663 at the age of 57 and was buried at the Basilica of Sant'Andrea. She had outlived 4 of her seven children.

Françoise Madeleine died in 1664 and her son later married another cousin, Marie Jeanne of Savoy. Marie Jeanne would give birth to Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia who would later marry another French Princess (and member of the House of Orléans) Anne Marie d'Orléans. 17 years after her death, in 1680, her granddaughter Victoria of Bavaria via her third daughter Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, would marry her older brother's grandson Louis de France known as 'the Fat' and Monseigneur. Christine thus became a direct ancestress of the Spanish branch of the House of Bourbon via Victoria's second son Philip V of Spain.

It was revealed on NBC's Who Do You Think You Are? that one of her descendants is model/actress Brooke Shields. Princess Michael of Kent, born Baroness Marie Christine, is also a descendant by Christine's son, Charles Emmanuel.