In October 1537, the eighteen-year-old Henry, who had recently become the dauphin but was not yet king, was in Moncalieri in northern Italy on a military campaign. There he had an affair with a young woman, usually identified as Filippa Duci, the daughter of a lesser noble of Fossano in the Piedmont and the sister of Jean-Antoine, a page or groom in the Grand Écurie. This union produced an illegitimate daughter, born 25 July 1538 and later known as Diane de France. It is not known whether she was born at court or was brought there when still very young. At court, her care and upbringing were entrusted to Henry's younger sister, Margaret. Diane's father treated her well: her household included a governess, tutors, maids of honor, chamber valets, and even a tailor. Her tutors turned her into an accomplished princess. She learned to write in excellent French, the proof of which can be seen in the large number letters that still survive. She also learned Italian, Spanish, and enough Latin for religious ceremonies. Her artistic education was not neglected: she also learned to play lute and other instruments, and to sing. She was not formally legitimised until much later, in 1572.
Diane's second marriage was to Francis de Montmorency, eldest son of Anne de Montmorency, by a contract of 3 May 1557 and a ceremony that took place on 4 June 1557 at the Château de Villers-Cotterêts. They had a son, named Anne after his grandfather, born in 1560 but died in the cradle. On 22 June 1563, after the death of her father and then her half-brother Francis II, the new king, her half-brother Charles IX gave her, by lettres patentes signed at the Château de Vincennes, the Duchy of Châtellerault. The annual revenues of about 6,000 livres were meant to compensate for the gift of 50,000 écus promised for her first marriage but never paid from the royal treasury. The revenues from this duchy were far less than what she was owed. After the death of Charles, Diane became a favourite of the new king, her other half-brother Henri III. In February 1576, he signed additional lettres patentes, giving her the lands and seigneuries of Coucy and Folembray, as well as some other estates in the Bourbonnais. Diane was widowed for a second time in 1579, after helping make her husband a leader of the politiques, a moderate Roman Catholic group in France.
Later life
In August 1582, Henry III gave her the Duchy of Angoulême in exchange for that of Châtellerault, making her Duchess of Angoulême in appanage. The new title came with increased wealth, so in 1584 she started building a new Paris residence, the Hôtel d'Angoulême. Construction was likely interrupted by the Wars of Religion, and only completed with a second phase of construction in 1611. Diane also enjoyed much respect at the court of Henry IV, King of France, and superintended the education of his son Louis XIII. Diane died on 11 January 1619 in Paris. Her surviving letters reveal her as a woman of great courage and tolerance.
