A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Diana
In 1562, her father married her to Horace Farnese, duke de Castres, second son of the duke of Parma, whom the king protected against the emperor; but he dying in six months, Diana, then fourteen, remained a widow three years, when her hand was offered to Francis de Montmorenci, the eldest son of the constable of France: preoccupied by another passion, the young man resisted alike the entreaties and menaces of his father, and married the object of his first love, although a law had already declared such an union invalid. The constable applied to the ecclesiastical authority; but, before sentence was pronounced, a sudden change took place in the heart of his son; he disavowed his marriage, and became the husband of Diana in 1557.
Diana acceded to the measure only in obedience to her father. A man who had affronted her by a refusal, and who was guilty of such an act of perfidy, could not inspire any prepossession in his favour; yet she soon sincerely loved him, and her beauty and amiable qualities secured all his affection.
On the death of her father and accession of Francis II. the influence of the Guises prevailed; they were enemies of the house of her husband, who was afterwards recalled from England, by the execrable Catherine de Medicis, to be one of the victims on the day of Saint Bartholomew. Diana, however, on the watch, and fearful for the safety of one so dear, prevailed upon him to retire to Chantilly the evening before that horrible day. On the death of Charles IX. the queen began to fear the loss of her authority, and sought to secure the person of the duke before the return of Henry III. from Poland. She recalled him to court: Diana besought him not to go; recapitulated the reasons she had to fear and guard against her insidious policy; but he was not to be persuaded; he went, and was instantly sent to the Bastille; from whence it was long before he was delivered. He died in 1579, and his loss was deeply lamented by Diana, to whom he had been married two and twenty years, and who afterwards attached herself to the interests of Henry III. during all his misfortunes; making many journies to secure peace to the state. It was she, who, after the death of the duke of Guise, negotiated the peace between him and the king of Navarre. This prince, always duped by the French court, and always upon his guard, had so much confidence in her good faith, that he said: "Madam, if you give me your word that they will act sincerely with me, all stipulations are useless. I would sooner believe you than a thousand bonds."
The assassination of the king, her brother, filled Diana with despair. She confined herself to the castle of Chinon, in Touraine, and by his death became duchess of Angoulême: yet Henry IV. asked her counsel, profited by it, and when he was established in the kingdom, recalled her to court. He pardoned her nephew, a conspirator, in consequence of the high esteem he had for the duchess.
Lewis XIII. was the seventh king Diana had seen upon the throne. After so many disastrous reigns, he could not but be dear to the people, and she in particular beheld him with a mingled sensation of fear and joy. She presided over his education, and was witness to the tumultuous commencement of his reign; but when he seemed to be finally settled, retired from court; contented at the prospect of peace for the nation, and regretting none of the amusements of which her age and infirmities deprived her, but that of the chace. She cultivated the sciences to the end of her life, and a few months only before her death, repeated the whole of a play which she had acted a part in at the age of twelve. All historians praise her piety. Her house was open to good preachers, and she wished all her people and acquaintance to come and hear them. She never had but one child, which was by her second husband, and died the same day it was born.