Felipe II's fourth wife!
She was born in Cigales, Valladolid, the 2nd November 1549. She was the first child born in the marriage of Archduke Maximilian and infanta María of Spain. Fifteen children would follow: Ferdinand, who died young; Rudolph, who would become Emperor; Ernest, Governor of the Netherlands; Elisabeth, future wife of Charles IX of France; Maria, who died young; Matthias, who became an Emperor after Rudolph's death; a stillborn son; Maximilian, Albrecht, who became Governor of the Spanish Netherlands after declining his title of Cardinal and marrying Felipe II's daughter by Isabel de Valiois; Wenceslas, who died in his teens; Frederic, maria and Karl, who all died young, Margaretha, who became a nun; and Eleanor, who died aged 11.
Her early years were happy. She had been born in Spain because her parents were acting as Regents while Carlos I and future Felipe II were abroad. They then moved to Vienna. In 1556 Maximilian's father, Ferdinand, became Emperor after his brother Carlos abdicated. Her parents marriage was a happy one. María was absolutely pro-Spanish and a fervent Catholic and Maximilian was more inclined to the Protestant faith, and although he never really abjured his Catholic faith, he refused receiving the extreme unction in his death bed. However, the marriage was a very happy one and Maximilian seems to have been faithful with María, or at least discreet.
In 1564 negotiations started for a marriage between Ana María and her cousin, Prince Carlos of Spain, son of Felipe II and his first wife. Felipe, knowing his son's unstable character, made the thing go slower. When Carlos died in 1568 they started to search for another suitable husband for their eldest and favourite daughter. They found one in Charles IX of France but when in October 1568 Felipe's wife, Isabel, died, María was glad to read a letter from her own brother some months later asking for his niece's hand!
When Ana knew that she was going to marry her admired uncle, she couldn't be more pleased. She went to Spain with her brothers Wenceslass and Albert, who were to receive a Spanish education. When she crossed the border, she received her brothers Rudolph and Ernest, who had already been living in Spain. Ana and Felipe married in Segovia on the 12 th November 1570. He was 43 and she was 21.
They became a very happy couple and, as it was said in the Isabel de Valois thread (I think it was there), Ana became a mother to Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela, Felipe's daughters by Isabel de Valois. She gave her husband a sort of bourgeoise life that he hadn't experimented before in his marital life, having married for the first time as a teenager, the second time to a mature woman and the third to a very vital girl. Ana was the calm and the support this tired King needed.
Soon children started to come: Fernando was born in 1571, followed in 1573 by Carlos Lorenzo, who would die aged 2. In 1574 Ana had a stillborn son and in 1575, a few days after Carlos Lorenzo's death she gave birth to another son, Diego Félix. Felipe couldn't be more happy and he couldn't be more grateful to his beloved wife. In 1578 Ana gave birth to another son! He was called Felipe and he was the third in the Succession order. His older brother Fernando, died later that same year. In 1580 Felipe II started his military campaign to conquer Portugal and Ana stayed in Madrid, as she was pregnant again. She gave birth to a girl, María, and then ran by her husband's side. Pregnant once again, Ana saw with horror how the flu was killing her husband. She prayed for his life, offering God to take her life instead of Felipe's, as he was much more useful for Spain. Her prayers must have been heard, as Felipe started to recover while Ana got ill with the flu. The 26th October 1580, in Badajoz, she miscarried a five-month male foetus. Ana died three hours later. Felipe was absolutely devastated.
Although Ana had given him a large descendancy, only Felipe survived (Diego died in 1582 and María in 1583). Felipe would succeed his father as Felipe III in 1598.
