3 April – Too many marriages for one lifetime

Margaret of Austria, the daughter of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, was married to John, Prince of Asturias on 3 April 1497. She was seventeen years old, and it was her second marriage.

Between the ages of three and twelve, she had nominally been the wife of Charles VIII of France, ten years her senior — a political arrangement organised by their fathers. Owing to Margaret’s young age, the union was purely formal and was easily annulled, on the pretext of being unconsummated, once political circumstances shifted. Now Maximilian, seeking an alliance against France, negotiated with Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon a double marriage: his son Philip the Handsome and daughter Margaret were to marry their daughter Joanna and son John, respectively.

Margaret was wedded by proxy in the Netherlands, but bad weather delayed her sea voyage to the Pyrenees, and violent storms turned the journey into a true calvary. In this life-threatening situation, preparing for the worst, the young princess composed her own future epitaph, famous for its wit:

Here lies Margaret, the willing bride,

Twice married — but a virgin when she died.

Fortunately, the fleet arrived safely, and the young couple quickly developed a mutual affection. However, their idyllic life together lasted only five months, until John’s unexpected death at the age of nineteen.

Margaret was married off by her father once again, this time to Duke of Savoy. This union ended three years later and produced no children. Now Margaret, only twenty-four, refused to remarry. A few years later, she became Governor of the HabsburgNetherlands, the position for which she is best known in history.