Anna Gonzaga

Anne Marie Gonzaga, Princess Palatine (Italy 1616 – July 6 1684 Paris) was the daughter of Charles I, Duke of Mantua and Catherine of Lorraine.

Life

Anne was initially intended for the nunnery but, after the death of her father in 1637, was diverted from this vocation and carried out an adventurous life. She fell passionately in love with her cousin Henry II, Duke of Guise, with whom she stated later to have contracted a secret marriage in 1639. Anna was disguised as a man to join him in Sedan in 1640, but he gave her up in 1641. She brought a lawsuit against him, asking for recognition as his wife.

She was married, without much enthusiasm, to Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern, a landless and penniless nobleman ten years her junior, on 24 April 1645 in Paris. The couple had three daughters;

# Louisa Mary (23 July 1647 – 11 March 1679). Married Charles Theodore, Prince of Salm.
# Anne-Henriette (23 July 1648 – 23 February 1723). Married Henry III, Prince of Condé.
# Benedicta-Henrietta (14 March 1652 – 12 August 1730). Married John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The marriage of her second daughter, Anne, to [Henri Jules of Bourbon-Condé, Duke of Enghien, came to restore her position.

Anna's sister, Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, queen of Poland, had designated her niece as her heiress and had been committed supporting the candidature of the duke of Enghien for the Polish throne. She managed moreover to marry another of her daughters to the Duke of Brunswick and Hanover. Finally, she negotiated the marriage, in 1671, of Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine, her husband's niece, with Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the King's brother.

In 1671, she converted and changed completely her manner of living. Anna died devoted to the Church in 1684. Bossuet pronounced her famous funeral oration.