- Charlotte of Valois
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Charlotte 
Charlotte de Valois, ca. 1517, by Jean Clouet. It is commonly believed that this is Madeleine of Valois, Charlotte's sister. This is a mistake. Dauphine of France Tenure 21 October 1517–28 February 1518 House House of Valois Father Francis I of France Mother Claude of France Born 23 October 1516
Château d'AmboiseDied 18 September 1524 (aged 7 years, 10 months)
Château de Saint-Germain-en-LayeBurial October 1524
Basilica of Saint-Denis, Saint-DenisReligion Roman Catholicism Charlotte of Valois (23 October 1516 – 18 September 1524) was the second child and second daughter of Francis I, King of France and his wife, Claude of France, daughter of Louis XII of France and the Duchess of Brittany
Contents
Early Life
Charlotte was born in the Château d'Amboise, on October 23, 1516, the second daughter and child of Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany. She was a beautiful child, with greenish blue eyes and bright red hair. She was one of the six children of Francis I and Claude that had red hair, a trait inherited from Anne of Brittany, Claude's mother. She lived a happy life, moving from the Château d'Amboise to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye before March 1519.
Dauphine of France
When Charlotte was one year old, her older sister Louise, Dauphine of France, died from convulsions and with no other child, Francis was forced to create his only living child Dauphine of France. Her father immediately ordered Jean Clouet to paint a portrait of the new Dauphine, the portrait reading Charlotte of France. But, on 28 February 1518, the Queen gave birth to a boy, named François, thus taking away the titles from Charlotte. François was styled Dauphin of France since birth and Charlotte was re-styled Charlotte of Valois.
Later life and death
Charlotte in 1524, by Jean Clouet
The Princess spent all of her remaining days at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She had always been a delicate, frail child. At age seven, she contracted measles, the same disease which had killed her half-uncle, Charles Orlando, Dauphin of France just thirty years earlier. At not quite seven, the Princess died. The only person who looked after her while she was sick was her aunt Margaret of Navarre, as her mother Claude had already died two months earlier, her grandmother Louise of Savoy was very sick and her father Francis I of France had gone to war. He would later be imprisoned, so he was not anywhere near his daughter at the time of her death. It appears as if Charlotte was very close to her aunt Margaret, who was heartbroken and distraught when her "little one" died, on 18 September 1524.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Charlotte of Valois 16. Louis I, Duke of Orléans 8. John, Count of Angoulême 17. Valentina Visconti 4. Charles, Count of Angoulême 18. Alain IX of Rohan 9. Marguerite de Rohan 19. Marguerite of Brittany 2. Francis I of France 20. Louis, Duke of Savoy 10. Philip II, Duke of Savoy 21. Anne of Cyprus 5. Louise of Savoy 22. Charles I, Duke of Bourbon 11. Margaret of Bourbon 23. Agnes of Burgundy 1. Charlotte of Valois 24. Louis I de Valois, Duke of Orléans 12. Charles I de Valois, Duke of Orléans 25. Valentina Visconti 6. Louis XII of France 26. Adolph I, Duke of Cleves 13. Marie of Cleves 27. Mary of Burgundy 3. Claude, Duchess of Brittany 28. Richard of Brittany 14. Francis II, Duke of Brittany 29. Marguerite d'Orléans 7. Anne, Duchess of Brittany 30. Gaston IV, Count of Foix 15. Margaret of Foix 31. Eleanor of Navarre References
- Freer, Martha Walker. The Life of Marguerite D'Angoulême,Queen of Navarre. pp. 141-143. Second Edition, Revised. London, 1856.
- The Cambridge Modern History. A. W. Ward, editor. Vol. 2, p. 417. MacMillan Company, 1904.
- Portrait of Charlotte of France. Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
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