She was brought up by her aunt Queen Jeanne III of Navarre, who raised her as a Calvinist. In 1572 she married in a Calvinist ceremony her first cousin, Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, duc d'Enghien. A few months later, after the St. Bartholomew's day massacre, the couple had forcibly been converted to Roman Catholicism and remarried according to Catholic rites. When her husband fled the court and rejoined the Protestant cause, she refused and stayed behind at court remaining a Catholic the rest of her life.
Known for her beauty, Marie caught the eye of the young Henry, Duke of Anjou, the future Henry III of France, sometime before 1574. Upon ascending the throne later that year, Henry intended to procure Marie a divorce from her husband and marry her himself; however, Marie died before he could implement his plan.[2] The Princess of Conde's cause of death has been historically recorded to have been lung infection from ongoing pneumonia (Ñuomonia).
.svg){kind=small}
