Eleanor of Austria - Queen of France

Queen of France

In 1529, by the treaty called "La Paz de las Damas" (The Ladies' Peace), it was stipulated that the marriage should take place. She was married to Francis on 4 July 1530. They had no children.

Eleanor left Spain in the company of her future stepsons, who were now to be released having been held hostage by her brother. The group met Francis at the border, where Eleanor and Francis were married, and then departed for an official entrance to Bordeaux. Eleanor was crowned Queen of France in Saint-Denis on 31 May 1531. She was dressed in purple velvet at her coronation. Eleanor was ignored by Francis, who seldom performed his marital obligations and preferred his lover Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly. At the official entrance of Eleanor to Paris, Francis displayed himself openly to the public in a window with his lover Anne for a period of two hours. Queen Eleanor performed as the queen of France at official occasions, such as at the wedding between Prince Henry of France and Catherine de' Medici in 1533. She also performed charity and was praised for this. She also took the princesses Madeleine and Margaret from Francis's first marriage to Claude de France into her household to raise them further.

As the French queen, Eleanor she did not have any political power; however, she was used as a contact between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Queen Eleanor was present at the peace negotiations between Francis and Charles in Aigues-Mortes in 1538. In 1544, she was given the task of entering peace negotiations with Charles and her sister Mary. In November 1544, she visited Charles in Brussels.

As a Queen Dowager, Eleanor left France for Brussels in 1548. She witnessed the abdication of Charles in October 1555 and left for Spain with him and their sister Mary in August 1556. She lived with her sister in Jarandilla de la Vera, where they often visited their brother, who retired to a monastery nearby. In 1558, she met her daughter Maria in Badajoz for the first time in 28 years. Eleanor died in 1558 on the return trip from Badajoz.

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