Anne of Austria

Anne of Austria (1601-1666), queen of France, daughter of Philip III, king of Spain, born in Madrid. In 1615 she married Louis XIII of France. The marriage was unhappy, and from 1620 until the death of Louis in 1643, the couple lived in virtual separation. The king's chief minister, Cardinal Richelieu, doubted Anne's loyalty to France because of her Spanish origin. He accused her of complicity in several treasonable conspiracies against Louis, but her guilt was never proved. After Louis died, Anne assumed the regency for her five-year-old son, King Louis XIV, but entrusted the government to the prime minister, Jules Mazarin. Together, they upheld the authority of the Crown during the civil wars of the Fronde (1648-1653). In 1661, when Louis XIV assumed power, Anne retired to a convent. Queen Anne is the central figure of Alexandre Dumas's novel, The Three Musketeers.