A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Elizabeth of France
ELIZABETH OF FRANCE,
Daughter of Henry the Second, and of Catherine de Medicis, was born at Fontainebleau, in 1545. She was the destined wife of Edward the Sixth; but the marriage was prevented by his premature death. Elizabeth was then betrothed to Don Carlos, Infant of Spain; and though they were mutually attached to each other, she was compelled, in spite of her repugnance, to marry his father, Philip the Second, who became a widower by the death of his wife Mary. Don Carlos never forgave this injury; and having expressed his sentiments too freely, was murdered, probably by the command of his father, who was jealous of him. Elizabeth was deeply affected by the fate of Don Carlos; she died, in childbed, ten weeks after him, at the age of twenty-two. She left two daughters.