Queen Anna: biography, history and life path

Anna of Austria and Anna Stewart. In the fate of these two women there is something in common: both stood at the head of great states, they were given out for marriage for political reasons, both lived in an atmosphere of intrigues and conspiracies, and besides, their life paths crossed in time, albeit a little. But one was quite happy with her husband, the second was exhausted from his coldness. The first became the heroine of the brightest, albeit unfortunate love story in the history of France, the second was not able to give her husband the heir, although she was pregnant 17 times.

Both Great Britain and France had queens, called Annamas. But each has its own way of life and history of coming to power, described below. Also from this article you will be able to find out what is common between the Stuart dynasty and the pirate Blackbeard, and whether Gascon D'Artagnan really went to England for suspension, saving the honor of his queen.

Anne of Austria: origins

Born and grew up the future Queen of France in 1601 in Valladolid (Spain). Her pedigree was the Habsburgs - one of the most influential and powerful ruling dynasties in medieval Europe, Austrian in origin. Education of the young Infanta was more than strict: the Spanish court was distinguished for its restrained mores, modest outfits and great religiosity. Having inherited blond curly hair and snow-white skin from her mother, the future Queen Anna was the first beauty of Europe and, moreover, an enviable bride, because the Habsburgs had a huge influence on the politics of that time.

Marriage

It is known that the crowned people can neither marry nor marry for love. For them, everything is decided by parents, and children often become bargaining chips in a political game. So it happened with Anna. When she was only three years old, her parents matroned her cousin Ferdinand. But in 1610, France was started by Maria Medici, who was eager to conclude a diplomatic alliance with Spain, because both countries were on the brink of war. To save the situation, in 1612 agreed on two marriages - the French Princess Isabella and the Spanish Infante Philip, as well as King Louis XIII and Anna, later named Austrian. So, at 11 years the future of the young infanta was determined, and after 3 years she was brought to Paris for a marriage ceremony.

Unfortunate family life

At first, the young Louis, who was the same age as Anna, was captivated by the beauty of his wife, but they did not experience any family happiness. The king was cold, preferred to spend time with favorites, changed openly, did not pay attention to his wife, and instead spent time hunting. Their family was childless for 23 years, only in 1638, and then in 1640, Anna gave birth to sons. To all other things, the King's mother, who once arranged this marriage, tried in every possible way to quarrel the couple by slipping the mistress's son, and also wanted to convince him that Queen Anna is immoral, because she spent a lot of time in the company of the brother of the king.

Anna, on the contrary, was alien to the depravity and emancipation of the French court, where betrayal to her husband and all sorts of liberties were in the order of things. And although many people took care of her in her time, even Cardinal Richelieu herself , she refused cavaliers with enviable steadfastness.

Only once did her heart fail.

Duke of Buckingham

In 1625 he arrived in the retinue of the English King Charles I for the matchmaking of the sister of Louis XIII Henrietta. Buckingham was tall, handsome, gallant, and moreover he was known as an expert dancer. This heartthrob without effort conquered the heart of Anna, who lacked attention of her husband. And soon Buckingham himself fell in love with the beautiful wife of the king. A few dances, a couple of secret meetings - and the duke was supposed to leave, accompanying the future English queen to London .

History with pendants

At the break-up in Boulogne, Queen Anne gave him 12 diamond pendants - a gift from her husband. They also appeared in Dumas' novel. The sly Richelieu learned about this and reported to the king, who asked Anna to put on her gift for the upcoming ball. If the fact that they were from Buckingham had been made public, an international scandal would not have been avoided. The Queen could be accused of high treason, and a war could break out between the countries. For the success of his plan, Richelieu was dismissed for the time of all the servants loyal to the queen, so that she could not send a messenger to London.

Meanwhile, the cardinal sent a letter to England, one of the mistresses of the Duke, Lady Claric, and asked to steal the jewel, naturally, for a reward. She furtively cut off two pendants in a masquerade, where the duke donned a gift to the queen. But the valet of Buckingham noticed the loss. For one night, an exact copy of the missing elements was made (though, there was no time to cut real diamonds, it was a clever fake), and the jewel was delivered to Paris, despite the fact that all the ports of England were closed. Alas, this was done not by the Gascon D'Artagnan, because the character actually was 5 years old that year.

Anne of Austria, Queen of France, put on pendants to the ball and thereby saved herself from imminent death.

Impact on policy

It is surprising that the relationship between the states in which they lived depended directly on the development of the love affair between Anna and Buckingham. In 1628, these countries were already on the brink of war, as Louis forbade the duke to enter France, and he desperately sought meetings with his beloved. Of course, until the end it is not known whether these were real feelings or political calculation, and whether the love was purely platonic, it is already the secrets of the queen. Anna Austrian all the time parting with the duke exchanged letters, bearing both personal and political character. But then the all-powerful Richelieu interfered again. Most likely, it was on his orders that Buckingham was killed in 1628 by a religious fanatic, Felton.

Anna Austria tried every way to bring France and Spain together, but this was opposed by the cardinal, so they became the worst enemies. Queen Anne, whose revenge for the death of Buckingham was expressed in constant conspiracies against Richelieu, only somehow reconciled with him at the end of his life.

Since Louis died in 1643, and the future successor was at the age of 5, Anna was the regent of France from 1643 to 1651 years. In those years her right hand was the new cardinal Giulio Mazarini. In fact, he ruled the country, not Anne of Austria, the queen of France. There is evidence that they were united not only by politics. When her son Ludovic began to rule, she until 1661 was a member of the Royal Council. Anne of Austria died in 1666 from breast cancer.

Anna is the Queen of England

She was born in 1665. Queen Anna became the last representative of the Stuart dynasty on the English throne. Her uncle, King of England Carl, raised her and her older sister Mary as Protestants. Her father was a Catholic, and therefore did not have the support of the people, as a result of which she was deposed from the throne. But the throne was taken by her sister Maria and her husband William, after the death of which Anna was the reins of power. So, from 1702 she became the queen of England and Scotland, and from 1707 to 1714, that is, To death, Anna - the Queen of Great Britain.

A family

Although her marriage was also appointed for diplomatic reasons (her husband was the Danish prince Georg, since Denmark was loyal to the Protestants), but the couple were faithful and devoted to each other. The only thing that has marred their happiness is the lack of children. Although Anna had 17 pregnancies, they ended either with the death of newborns, or with miscarriages.

Government Activities

During her reign, the bipartisan system in parliament began to operate. There was also an alliance with Scotland, which became part of the United Kingdom. In addition, England participated in the war for the Spanish inheritance, as a result of which it received new colonies on the American continent. The period of Anna's reign was quite calm and favorable for the development of culture, economy, science.

The ship "Revenge of Queen Anne"

In 1763, the British Empire defeated its mighty rivals - France and Spain. From that time she became the mistress of the seas.

According to the laws of wartime, robbing enemy ships was not illegal: to become a pirate, it was necessary only to obtain a license. This was done by Edward Teach, later known as Blackbeard.

In one of his campaigns in 1717, he captured the French slave-ship "Concorde" and made it his flagship, before giving him a new name - "The Revenge of Queen Anne." There is a version that he wanted to pretend that he did not know about the end of the war and the death of the queen, thus stating that he acted in her interests. Others suggest that here is meant the maid Boleyn - the other Queen Anne, whose revenge for the death and personified the actions of the pirates, but this version is far from the truth.

Edward Teach equipped the ship with 40 cannons, it had a crew of 300 sailors. For a whole year Blackbeard was hunted on this terrifying ship in the waters of the Caribbean Sea. He took to boarding and plundered dozens of ships. In 1718 the ship ran aground off the coast of South Carolina.

These were the main facts from the biography of both queens - Anne of Austria and Anna Stewart. First of all, they were just women, not just statesmen. And, unfortunately, both could not fully experience happiness in their personal lives. Perhaps, if they were not born in the families of monarchs, things would have turned out differently.