Diane de Poitiers (1500 – 1566). French noblewoman and prominent courtier. She wielded much power and influence as King Henry II's royal mistress and adviser until his death. Her position increased her wealth and family's status. She was a major patron of French Renaissance architecture.
Her parents were Jean de Poitiers, Seigneur de Saint Vallier, and Jeanne de Batarnay. She became a keen athlete, and kept a fit figure by riding and swimming regularly, remaining in good physical condition for her time. She was educated according to the principles of Renaissance humanism, including Greek and Latin, rhetoric, etiquette, finance, law, and architecture.
On 29 March 1515, at the age of 15, Diane was married to Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Count of Maulévrier, and Grand Seneschal of Normandy, who was 39 years her senior. He was a grandson of King Charles VII by his mistress Agnès Sorel and served as a courtier to King Francis I. They had two daughters, Françoise (1518–1574) and Louise (1521–1577).
Shortly after her marriage, Diane became lady-in-waiting to Queen Claude of France. After the Queen died, she served in the same capacity to Louise of Savoy, the King's mother, and then Queen Eleanor of Austria.
Based on allusions in their correspondence, it is generally believed that Diane became the mistress of future king Henry II in 1534, when she was 35 years old and Henry was 15.
Despite his occasional affair with such as Philippa Duci, Janet Fleming, and Nicole de Savigny, Diane remained Henry's lifelong companion. For the next 25 years, she was one of the most powerful women in France.
When French experts dug up her remains in 2009, they found high levels of gold in her hair. It is suggested that the "drinkable gold" that she "reportedly" regularly took, believed to preserve youth, may have ultimately killed her.
- "Artists and poets alike have been unable to agree on Diane's hair color. I had always thought that it was strawberry blonde, a color between red and blonde, because of a locket at Anet." http://diane-de-poitiers.blogspot.com/.../dianes-hair.html
- "Two waves of reddish-golden hair showed from a snood of black silk mesh encrusted with pearls." https://lostpastremembered.blogspot.com/.../beauty-brains...
- "Tall, thin, with “red-gold” hair and blue eyes..." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/pays-de-la-loire/sordid-secrets-loire-chateaux-visit-area-style/
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| Diane de Poitiers' lock of hair |
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| Painting by the school of Fontainebleau, 1590 |
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| Painting by the schoold of Fontainebleau |
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