Francesco Maria II della Rovere

Francesco Maria II della Rovere (Pesaro, February 20 1549 - Urbania, April 23 1631) was the last Duke of Urbino.

Biography

Francesco Maria II was the son of Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Count of Montefeltro and Vittoria Farnese, Princess of Parma. He was raised between 1565 and 1568 at the Royal court of Philip II of Spain, and succeeded his father as Duke of Urbino after his death in 1574. In 1585 he was made a Knight in the Order of the Golden Fleece by Philip II of Spain.

Marriage and Children

First he married in 1570 to Lucrezia d'Este (December 16, 1535 - February 12 1598), a daughter of Ercole II d'Este. The marriage remained childless. Francesco Maria needed a male heir to prevent the return of the Duchy to the Papal States. So he married in 1599, after the death of Lucrezia, his 36-year-younger cousin Livia della Rovere (San Lorenzo in Campo, December 16 1583 - Castelleone, July 6 1641).

On May 16 1605 their long expected and only child Federico Ubaldo was born.
Federico Ubaldo married Claudia de' Medici in 1621 and was made Duke by his father. But Federico died in 1623 from an epileptic attack, leaving only a daughter, Vittoria Della Rovere.

End of Dynasty

The aging Francesco Maria took up the title of Duke again, but as there was no more hope for a male heir, he gave his Duchy back to Pope Urban VIII in 1625, which was annexed to the Papal States after Francesco's death in 1631. The last member of the della Rovere family, Vittoria, inherited the Duke's art collection and had it transferred to Florence to the Uffizi Gallery.