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Historic Love and Marriages From Hell

Khalid Elhassan September 22, 2020 31 min

Jerry Lee Lewis - Myra Gale Brown — Jerry Lee Lewis and his child bride, back home after a disastrous overseas trip. The Commercial Appeal

25. Queen Margot’s Wedding Began With a Murder, and Ended With a Massacre

princess margaret of valois — Princess Margaret of Valois. Pinterest

Margaret of Valois (1553 – 1615) was a French queen known both for her numerous love affairs and general licentiousness. She is also known as the first woman in history to pen her memoirs – a vivid depiction of the turbulent France of her lifetime. She was made even more famous, or perhaps infamous, by Alexander Dumas’ portrayal of her in his historical novel, Queen Margot. She was unlucky in marriage: her wedding began with a murder, and ended with a massacre.

Margaret was born to King Henry II of France and his formidable wife, Catherine de Medici. Growing up, Margaret was quite close to her brother Henry – the future king Henry III, the last of the Valois kings. So close that rumors spread about an familial love affair between the siblings. Closeness turned into lifelong hatred, however, when she was discovered having an affair with an aristocrat, Henry of Guise. It ended in 1570 with Margaret’s mother and her brother, King Charles IX, beating up Guise and banishing him from the court.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.