Marguerite of France, the Young Queen. A Guest Post for The Freelance History Writer

Henry, king of England, caused his son Henry to be married to Margaret, the daughter of the king of France, although they were as yet but little children, crying in their cradle (…) the marriage (…) was celebrated at Newbourg on the 2nd of November [1160], with the sanction of Henry of Pisa and William of Pavia, cardinal-priests and legates of the apostolic see…

Marguerite of France (1158-1197) was the queen consort of Henry the Young King and Bela III of Hungary, respectively. The third daughter of King Louis VII of France, her arrival into this world must have been a great disappointment to her father. A few years prior to her birth, he divorced Eleanor of Aquitaine – ironically Marguerite’s future mother-in-law – because he had found her unable to produce a male heir. His second marriage, as it turned out, did not have a very auspicious beginning either, for in 1158 Donna Constanza of Castile had the cheek to give birth to yet another daughter, leaving Louis without the much-awaited male heir...

I have written about Henry the Young King's consort several times here, on my blog, but recently I have been happy to write a guest post about her for Susan Abernethy's excellent website. Thank you for your kind hospitality, Susan. You can read the post here. 

Photo courtesy of Daise on the Claise. Heads of a young king and queen, perhaps representing Henry the Young King and Marguerite (or young Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine), from the portal of the church of Candes-Saint-martin, Anjou, not far from the Fontevraud Abbey https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-church-at-candes-saint-martin.html