2 Olhagaray’s _Histoire de Faix, Béarn, Navarre, &c_,
Paris, 1609. p. 487.
As the young King of Navarre had spent a part of his youth at the French
Court, he was well known to Margaret, who apparently had a secret fancy
for him. He was in his twenty-fourth year, prepossessing, and extremely
brave. (1) There was certainly a great disproportion of age between
him and Margaret, but this must have served to increase rather than
attenuate her passion. She herself was already thirty-five, and
judging by a portrait executed about this period, (2) in which she
is represented in mourning for the Duke of Alençon, with a long
veil falling from her cap, her personal appearance was scarcely
prepossessing.
The proposed alliance met with the approval of Francis, who behaved
generously to his sister. He granted her for life the enjoyment of
the duchies of Alençon and Berry, with the counties of Armagnac and Le
Perche and several other lordships. Finally, the marriage was celebrated
on January 24th, 1527, at St. Germain-en-Laye, where, as Sauvai records,
“there were jousts, tourneying, and great triumph for the space of eight
days or thereabouts.” (3)
1 He was born at Sanguesa, April 1503, and became King of
Navarre in 1517.
2 This portrait is at the Bibliothèque Nationale in the
_Recueil de Portraits au crayon_ by Clouet, Dumonstier, &c.
(fol. 88).