Jane, Queen of France

Jane, Queen of France and Navarre (Jane of England) (30 June 1557 - 1 January 1602) was Queen of France and Navarre as the wife of Henry IV of France. She was the oldest living child of Isabella of Cleves and Edward VI by minutes, being the twin sister of Arthur, Prince of Wales. Her birth was greeted by much joy after a miscarried brother a year earlier. She was renowned as the "palest rose" for having blonde hair instead of the distinctive red known for the Tudors.

Early Life
Jane (born Jane Margaret) was born on 30 June in 1557. She had a twin brother, Arthur, who died in childhood. She was known to be one of her father's favorite children. As the eldest daughter of a sovereign, she was a highly valuable prize, in the event of her brothers' issue failing the succession would pass to her heirs, (a prospect that declined greatly at the time of her death). The French ambassador wrote of her in 1566, "The King's eldest daughter is graceful and stands out greatly beside her two young sisters. Her eyes are like that of a clear sky and her hair is light to where it appears white. Although she appears as an apparition, she is beautiful, the palest rose." It is said that her pale appearance inclined her mother to name her Jane, after her paternal grandmother. Her governess was Ruth Howard and she shared a nursery with her sisters, Anna and Constance. She did not have a grasp for languages and only learned French fluently, but she could embroider well, a skill she was said to have inherited from her namesake.

Marriage
Jane had been betrothed to Henry of Navarre since the age of 5 to secure an allaince between the two Protestant nations. Isabella hoped for a love match and often invited the Navarrese nobility to England to foster a connection between the two. In 1572, her mother broke the betrothal, fearing that the French Wars of Religion would harm her fifteen year old daughter. She decided to offer Jane to Sebastian I of Portugal in place of her younger sister Anna. However, Jane was determined to marry Henry, and he was equally determined to avoid being married to Margaret of Valois, the bride being offered in her place. He sent a small boat to sail her to Navarre and then married her. Her parents were not informed of the marriage until it was certain that she was pregnant.