Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy

Margaret was the daughter of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy. Betrothed in childhood to Charles VIII, she was raised at the French court before being displaced by his marriage to Anne of Brittany.

She later married John, Prince of Asturias, and Philibert II, Duke of Savoy, and after both marriages ended she became governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. From Mechelen she educated and supervised young Habsburg relatives, including the future Charles V, while acting as a skilled regent and diplomat.

In Sarah Gristwood’s Game of Queens, beginning with Isabella of Castile and Anne de Beaujeu, Sarah Gristwood traces networks of mothers, daughters, regents and mentors through Margaret of Austria, Louise of Savoy, Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Catherine de’ Medici, Mary I, Elizabeth I, Jeanne d’Albret and Mary, Queen of Scots. Rozsa Gaston’s Margaret of Austria is raised to become queen of France, only for Charles VIII to repudiate their childhood betrothal and marry Anne of Brittany. Returned to her Habsburg family, Margaret is sent into two further dynastic marriages: first to John, Prince of Asturias, and then to Philibert II of Savoy. Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy is treated fictionally in Rozsa Gaston’s Maid of Honour.