Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589)

French queen consort of Henry II, whom she married in 1533; daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino; and mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. At first outshone by Henry's mistress Diane de Poitiers (1490–1566), she became regent for Charles IX (1560–63) and remained in power until his death in 1574.

During the religious wars of 1562–69, she first supported the Protestant Huguenots against the Roman Catholic Guises to ensure her own position as ruler; she later opposed them, and has been traditionally implicated in the Massacre of St Bartholomew of 1572.