Christina was given her own suite of rooms close to her aunt’s rooms, and they often went out together if the weather was nice and if Mary could spare the time from public affairs. Christina attended Mass every morning and dined with Mary in the evenings. While others quarrelled over who her next husband should be, Christina had a special interest in René of Chalon, Prince of Orange, who had once been a playmate of her brother. René could often be found at Mary’s court.
On 24 October 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII of England, died after giving birth to the future King Edward VI. He was now in need of another wife, and Christina was on the list of suitable options. The English representative in Brussels wrote, “If it were God’s pleasure and the King’s, I would there were some good alliance made betwixt His Highness and the Emperor, and there is none in these parts of personage, beauty, and birth, like unto the Duchess of Milan. She is not so pure white as was the late Queen, whose soul God pardon, but she hath a singular good countenance, and when she chanceth to smile, there appeareth two pits in her cheeks and one in her chin, the which becometh her right excellently well.”1
The following March, King Henry’s painter, Hans Holbein, arrived to make a sketch of Christina and King Henry was very pleased with the outcome. However, he wanted to see Christina in person and requested for her to be brought to Calais. According to Mary, that was out of the question. Negotiations dragged on, and no progress was made. It was not until the following year that Thomas Wriothesley, King Henry’s ambassador in Brussels, finally had an audience with Christina herself. He found her standing under a canopy in a hall hung with black velvet. She asked him the purpose of his errand, and he asked her if she had really said she would not fix her heart this way. She answered, “As for my inclination, what should I say? You know I am at the Emperor’s commandment. You know I am the Emperor’s poor servant and must follow his pleasure!”2
The marriage negotiations came to a halt when King Henry was excommunicated in 1539, and Emperor Charles refused to allow the marriage to proceed without the Pope’s dispensation. A few months later, two clergymen were travelling together when one asked the other if he knew why King Henry’s marriage had not happened. One of them was familiar with the gossip from the court at Flanders, and he told the other that Christina had refused to marry King Henry. He said, “She sayeth, since the King’s Majesty was in so little space rid of three Queens, she dare not trust his Council, even if she dare trust His Majesty. For in Flanders, the nobles suspect that her great-aunt, Queen Catherine, was poisoned, that Anne Boleyn was innocent of the crimes for which she was put to death, and that the third wife, Queen Jane, was lost for lack of attention in her childbed.”3 The gossiper later spent several months in the Tower.
Despite these negotiations coming to an end, there were still plenty of options for Christina. René of Chalon was being privately encouraged by Christina’s sister, Dorothea and even Mary liked the Prince. However, in June 1540, it became clear that René had been precontracted to Anna of Lorraine, and Charles needed René’s loyalty as Anna’s father was seriously grieved in a dispute over lands. And so, he dutifully married Anna. If Christina expressed any grief over René, she did so in private.
The following year, a match was finally arranged for Christina. The groom was the future Francis I, Duke of Lorraine, who was a first cousin of Mary of Guise, Queen of Scots. They were married on 10 July 1540 in Brussels. They were known as the Duke and Duchess of Bar until 1544. They spent some time travelling around the Low Countries before departing for Lorraine in August. Her new husband even took her to see his grandmother, Philippa of Guelders, who had become a nun 20 years earlier. When Christina finally arrived in Nancy, she was presented with baskets of flowers, strawberries and cherries by the local peasant women. Nancy was to be her new home. Despite some troubles at the French court, Christina was writing about her “present great happiness” by February 1542.4
During one visit to the French court, one lady asked Christina why she had rejected King Henry VIII of England’s suit. Christina replied that, unfortunately, she only had one head but that if she had possessed two, one might have been at His Majesty’s disposal. This was shortly after the execution of King Henry’s fifth wife, Catherine Howard.5
On 18 February 1542, Christina gave birth to her first child – a son named Charles. He was christened with the greatest rejoicing. Two years later, on 20 April 1544, she gave birth to a daughter named Renata or Renée, after her late mother-in-law. However, it soon became apparent that her father-in-law, Antoine, was very ill. The family hastened to be at Antoine’s bedside, and he died on 19 June 1544, making Christina and Francis the new Duke and Duchess of Lorraine. The country was in a state of war, and Francis was desperate for peace. In July, Christina’s former love, René of Chalon, died following the siege of St. Dizier. Peace was signed in September, and Christina and Francis were invited to Brussels to celebrate it. However, they did not arrive until November as Francis had fallen ill. Afterwards, they spent a happy winter in Nancy and began to plan for the future. Christina was also pregnant again.
Part four coming soon.
- Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 by Julia Cartwright p.81
- Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 by Julia Cartwright p.100
- Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 by Julia Cartwright p.106
- Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 by Julia Cartwright p.143
- Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan and Lorraine, 1522-1590 by Julia Cartwright p.144
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