A Portrait in Black and White
Diane de Poitiers in Her Own Words
by
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It is a beautiful spring morning. The sun is streaming through my bedroom windows and I hear the birds singing in the garden. I remember when I married Louis and came to live here at Anet. It was a morning very much like this one. How long ago that seems; how Anet has changed in the past half-century. How I have changed since then! This would have been the perfect day for an early-morning ride; I miss the horses and I am reminded that I have been unable to go to the stables in nearly a month. This morning I feel even weaker and generally unwell, but I have no pain. I believe I’ll linger in my bed a little longer. I find it impossible to write in my journal today, but I am in the mood to reflect as I lay here. For a woman who has always enjoyed excellent health, I am not accustomed to feeling this way. To be weak, physically or otherwise, is not acceptable to me. My physician visited me again yesterday. Although he did not say so, I saw it in his eyes. I am not going to recover. My priest will arrive around noon today to administer the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. I hope to be forgiven for the many years I spent as the mistress of another woman’s husband. Can something so beautiful—something that has achieved so much good—be wrong in God’s eyes? I shall ask Father André the question that weighs so heavily on my mind. Is God angry with me? Will I go to Hell for my sins? I have spent the last few days reading from my Book of Hours. Try as I might, I am unable to concentrate on the words this morning. They blur before my eyes. Still, it appears that death will be as kind to me as life was. Thankfully, I am not destined to die as I have seen many do, writhing in pain, or unable to think clear thoughts. My thoughts are all I have left, and they wander freely. They wander to Henri and Louis, to my daughters, to my homes, and to the places and events that have made up my life…
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About the Book
Diane de Poitiers could have—and should have—been Queen of France. King Henri II was devoted to her throughout his life. His childhood attachment turned into an adolescent attraction, and eventually into a passionate and consuming love. His greatest wish was to make her his wife and to have her rule France at his side. However, theirs was a time when royal marriages were arranged for political gain, and Henri’s first duty was to France; he was forced to marry a woman he could never love.
Diane de Poitiers was beautiful, wealthy, and well educated. Nineteen years his senior, she was Henri’s ideal woman. Diane and Henri loved each other with a love that was not only romantic and physical, but which also existed on a pure and spiritual level. Henri lavished gifts upon the woman he loved, and Diane guided and inspired him like no other—until they were separated for eternity by a cruel twist of fate.
Over five hundred years later, historians credit Diane with the success of Henri’s reign. But who was this woman who won the heart of the King of France? Let her tell you, in her own words…
About the Author
Shari Beck is the 12th-great-grandaughter of Diane de Poitiers and Louis de Brézé. Genealogy is one of her favorite pastimes, so it was only natural that she would combine that with her love of writing and history to tell the story of one of her ancestors. Shari is the mother of a grown daughter, Laura, and the grandmother of Claire! She lives just east of Toronto, Canada.