Anne of Austria

Born in Valladolid in 1601 to Spain's King Philip III, Anne was betrothed to Louis XIII of France at eleven and married him three years later. The marriage was cold, strained by her Spanish blood during the Franco-Spanish War and by Cardinal Richelieu's suspicion. After two decades of childlessness, she finally bore Louis in 1638 and Philippe two years after. When her husband died in 1643, she outmaneuvered opponents to claim sole regency for the four-year-old Louis XIV and installed Cardinal Mazarin as chief minister. The Fronde — a major revolt by French nobility — erupted against her rule b…