THE MENAGE A TROIS –
HENRI II, CATHERINE DE MEDICI, DIANE DE POITIERS
The most bizarre ménage à trois in history. Henri, second son of François I, married the Pope’s niece Catherine de Medici. They were both 14.
From childhood Henri had been obsessed with Diane de Poitiers, a respectable widow literally old enough to be his mother. Finally Diane succumbed to his advances when Henri was 19 and she was 38. (It helped that he was now heir to the throne after the death of his older brother).
While Diane appeared to be the de facto mother in law , Catherine de Medici was under no illusions. It was a torrid affair in private and Catherine knew that from watching them through a hole in the ceiling, above Diane’s bed chamber.
The strange relationship between the two women is an unlikely tale. The queen’s close friends advised all sorts of revenge plots but she waited, hoping the aging process would come into play to dethrone her rival. However Diane’s strict fitness and diet regime saw to it that she kept the King devoted right up to his death when she was almost 60.
Here’s how the story goes –
IT STARTED WITH A KISS…
As fate would have it, among her entourage to greet Francois on his release from Spain, François’ mother Louise had another lady in waiting beside the future Duchess d’Etampes. Her name was Diane de Poitiers.
Part of the deal with his captor Charles V was that François’ two sons would take his place hostages in Spain until the terms of his release had been met.
FRANÇOIS’ TWO ELDEST SONS
François’ elder son and heir was eight years old and it was shortly before his second son Henri’s seventh birthday. Louise accompanied her grandsons to Bayonne where the handover was to take place.
Naturally there was more concern shown for the elder son who was heir to the throne. One of Louise’ ladies noticed the younger boy, who was already more timid and reserved, and she reached out to him and gave him a kiss on the forehead as he was taken away.
It was a kiss Henri would never forget. Someone had made him feel special. When he returned from captivity in Spain he was eleven. He saw what he regarded as “his lady” regularly because she was part of the court.
One day François confided in her he was worried that the period of imprisonment had affected his second son more than the first and that he needed help to adjust to court life. The elder son who was fifteen, already had a mistress. Henri was reserved and only seemed interested in sport. She told the king: “Trust me, Sire. I will make him my gentleman”. She became a sort of mother figure.
No one expected Henri would become king and no one, apart from Henri himself, expected
that this noblewoman, Diane de Poitiers, would become his mistress less than five years
later.