Dr. Estelle Paranque

It's the most beautiful castle, I think, in France.

Yeah, he gives it to her. You should point it black and white. No. It's even worse. It's like the H and the D. So H for Henry, D for Jean. And I'll tell you a story about this. But it's so, again, it's like I'm supposed to be your wife and you're giving everything to your mistress. And in front of everyone, there's no like trying to not hurt her feelings.

It's like, let me hurt your feelings and some more. Yeah.

Everyone knew.

Indeed, she's not conceiving. But what's going to be very interesting is obviously they're going to try all the treatments possible for this. They're going to ask her, you know, to do anything she can to get pregnant, including like drinking donkey's urine.

He's the Prince Harry.

Yeah, we would not have given François to, you know.

Yeah, he died. He died tragically.

Yeah, he died after drinking a glass of water while playing tennis. And everyone thought it was poison because who would benefit from his death?

Diana.

Catherine.

And Henri. And so she... And basically, he had a secretary that was Italian that had came with Catherine to the French court. And he was accused.

That comes from a source that is against Catherine. So they're really trying to play the fact that this Italian guy was linked somehow to Catherine, that he has this book and that he would have killed the Dauphin for Catherine.

Yes, yes.

And I'll talk about this, why I really don't think it did.

Yeah. And the new pope didn't pay the dowry.

And there's this massive discussion about, OK, we need a divorce between Catherine and Henry on an annulment. Because obviously divorce at this time, we use it so much, but actually it didn't happen, right?

You get an annulment from the pope. But what happened was, and I love that, Catherine heard all the rumours against her. Because she couldn't conceive and because of what happened with François, right? The Dauphin. So she goes to see the king, Francis I, François I. And she gives this speech where it shows you how intelligent she was. Am I saying that she's not genuine?

No, I'm saying she's genuine, but you can be genuine and smart, all right? And she goes there and she says like... I understand that it's not good for you to have me as your daughter-in-law. And because I love you, you know, I'm paraphrasing, because I love you so much and respect you so much. And you're like a father to me. I will accept whatever you want to do with me.

I put my fate in your hands. And Francois, who had thought about the king of getting rid of her, because now she's Dauphine and she's not good enough really for Henry. He's thinking, wait a minute. This woman is very devoted to me, to my family. And he really liked her. They enjoyed hunting together. They were riding together. She was a great rider, wasn't she?

Yes. She's someone who's very close to the king. And he told her, no, I'm not going to do that to you. Because he also knows that she's the orphan, always losing her family. And it's going to strengthen their bond. But the problem is going to tell her, but we have a problem, Catherine. I need you to give me, well, not him, but he needs an heir for his dynasty.

Because it's a very important thing, right, in the 16th century, as we know, to have, you know, a full dynasty. And that's where, for Diane, Diane is starting to be scared. Because right now, she only has a little girl, young teenager. And she can fully control her. She's not beautiful, or they say she's not beautiful. What is beauty, honestly? And she doesn't show anything.

I think you are beautiful, Estelle. Shep, you're so nice. I think you're beautiful, too. And you, Greg. Thank you. And what's so very interesting is that for Diane, it's like I can control her. She's not a threat to me and my love with Henry. But what if we get a new wife? It's a new princess. She's more beautiful. Henry becomes in love with her. So then Diane is going to help.

And that's why I want to tell you guys, she helps Catherine conceive. And she's like, OK, let's see what you do with Henry. Oh. And she's like, you're going to watch what I do. And so she's going to look into your little hole and look what they do. And she's going to be like, oh, my God, he doesn't do that to me. No, baby, he doesn't do that to you. So then Diane enters the bedroom.

I know. I wish it was actually filmed.

This is like Renaissance Pornhub. It is porn. Oh, my God, we're getting there. I'm not sure if I should be in the studio. Shafi, please. I'm a virtuous woman. I'm very virtuous too, but like... And what she did was she'd come in the bedroom with a couple. She prepares Henry until the end.

And then gives him to Catherine. And this is how they conceived ten kids, guys.

Forget about the donkey piss.

Yeah, but nothing of this worked, did it? Where did you put the stag antler horn?

As soon as Jan entered to help the couple, it worked.

Seven are going to become adults. Yeah. So ten times. Well, I think she probably did more than that. Well, yeah, more than that. And I would like to understand here the humiliation for Catherine. It's time to understand that she's not enticing enough for her husband. It creates massive humiliation, resentment. Because even if you see the two women working towards a goal, right?

I don't think I can do shabby. I love your work, but I don't think I can be as funny as you. I'm sorry.

Catherine is like, I hate this woman. Yeah.

I need this woman. I hate her.

Who becomes François as well.

Yeah. Yeah. But Diane is the queen in all but name.

I know, I know. It's quite annoying, isn't it?

If I'm honest with you, I think she's really much on the back seat, right? She's never shining during his reign. Towards the end, yes, she's going to play a very important role. 1558, you know, we talk about the loss of Calais. But for the French, it's great. It's a great moment. Obviously, for the English, not so much. But the reason why we got it back, when I say we, obviously the French guys.

It's because Catherine gave a speech in the Parlement de Paris. and raised money and men for her husband. And he's going to win that battle and win back Calais because of Catherine. At that time, she becomes closer to Henry because Henry's like, oh my God, you're very intelligent. And Diane starts resenting Catherine because Catherine is starting to shine.

Mary loved Diane. And Diane was a Guise, a French family, very close. So she loved Diane. And I think sometimes she was disrespectful to Catherine.

Nostri? Nostri? Damus. Damus. Damus. Nobby.

Yeah, and then he wants a revenge, so he does it again, and this time it goes through his eye.

Yes, that's the revenge.

Diana's out and she sends a letter to Catherine to apologise for all the years of humiliations.

Really? Isn't that fascinating? It is fascinating. Obviously Catherine gave me back Chenonceau. You know the H and D everywhere? She changed it D to C. The beautiful castle.

And Mary Stuart is queen of France.

Well, at that time, no, she's not yet very much running the show. And that's probably because of Mary Struth's family, the Guises. So she has very powerful, very powerful uncles, the Guises.

Yes, the geezers. But Catherine is going to try, she's going to fight to remain an advisor to her son. And he's going to accept this. But their relationship between her firstborn and her son, they're good. They're not very strong. He also really loved, I think he's the only husband that, you know, I can say that about Mary Stuart. He really loved Mary.

And so his allegiance is going to go towards his wife Anne. And her family. So Catherine here is not really gaining much power, but she's growing in terms of like, she asked to be called Queen Mother of France. And that is a title that has never been given before. And it's a very important title because in the title you have Queen.

I want to tell you that before Francis I had his mother, she was Mother of the King.

And you see the difference between Mother of the King and Queen Mother. And that's an importance, a title she gives herself. And that's going to have more and more importance in the years to come.

Navarre is a small territory between Spain and France and has had such a huge diplomatic importance for centuries before.

And they're royal blood. Both of them have like princes of blood in them. It's very important because when you're a prince of blood, it means you have a right to the throne.

Yes. I mean, again, OK, that's, again, from a source that is like their detractors. But there's a bit of truth in that in terms of like they control them.

Yeah.

You sound like Catherine.

I sound like a mother.

It's Charles. It's going to be Charles IX of France. He's totally, utterly under the control of his mother. And Catherine, she's become the matriarch of a family.

Yes.

Yeah, over 30. Yeah.

Oh, she's ruling at that time.

Yeah, she's in charge.

And then they start again. They always start again. There's always a mean way. That's one thing about Catherine, like her dark legend. And even you see it in the Serpent Queen by stars. It's like she's the one instigating those wars. She's not. There's no monarch. And mark my word here. It's not good for them to live in a realm where there's constant.

Vassy is in their territory in Lorraine. And on their way back to Joinville, they're going to see that the Huguenots are worshipping not outside of the town, but inside the town. And it's against the law. And they decide to kill all of them.

And her sons, yeah. They don't have peace.

Yes. Again, I would just like to say that it's been also like it's a myth around Catherine. Well, they have Flying Squadron. So they're called the Flying Squadron. And there were noble women, between 80 and 300 noble women, well-born girls, who were there to basically flirt men to manipulate them for Catherine's interest. But let me just say, like, historians have debunked that myth.

Because it's important to say, because if Catherine had been that successful with so many women being able to flirt and obviously have sex with noblemen to get what she wanted, do you think she would have had such a hard time for the next 30 years? Probably not. That's one thing. But it is true. That is Isabelle de Limoy. She became Condé's mistress. And Condé is a Bourbon.

He's a Protestant. Yeah. It is true that there was like some inference from Catherine where she wanted to know what he had in mind, what he had planned. So she did seduce him to get information for Catherine and it worked. But I think from that real example, they just made it up that Catherine was just basically paying women to sleep with men to get information.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely. So this massacre is that she wants to bring peace to France and she's going to give her daughter, her third daughter, Margaret... to Henry of Navarre, who's a Protestant. And the wedding is going to happen in Paris, and they're going to invite all the Protestants. So all Protestants and Catholics are in Paris to celebrate the wedding. And so far, so good.

But the night of 23rd, 24th of August.

Thank you, Greg. The Guises have an opportunity to avenge their father's death. In 1563.

He was assassinated in 1563 by Admiral de Coligny. He's going to ask for refuge to Catherine de Medici, who's going to grant it. But then what happened next is that the Guises have lots and lots of support. They even have their own private armies. And they start killing. It's the massacre of Protestants, thousands and thousands. And it doesn't stop in Paris. It goes to Rouen.

It goes to different cities. And Catherine is blamed for it. People said Catherine started it. Catherine is the one who organized it, who plotted it, when Catherine is the one who actually opened the doors of her house with Charles, her son, to save as many Protestants as possible, including Sir Francis Worsingham, the English ambassador of Elizabeth I.

So the Medici family, or the Medici family, were bankers and they rose to power and prominence.

Always a spare.

The spare for the spare. Francis and Charles are both dead.

And she has another one. So she's like, it's OK.

Henri III of France. He was elected king of Poland. And when Charles died, he had to smuggle out of Poland to go back to the French crown, which was awful because... Can you imagine being ditched by your king? No, but it was a massive diplomatic problem here because he was like, oh my... Catherine was like... Come back here. And he's like, they're not going to be happy.

I'd just be a king for a year. Is that like when you've applied for a new job and not told your... And now you have a better opportunity that you were not supposed to have. Right? It's like France is better, right? Sorry, guys. But that's how they felt at that time. So he had to hide. He went down a window and he roared at night. And it's just such a fascinating story.

Morally sound. They became, you know, very wealthy, as you said, and they were given titles. So then it created lots of problems and, you know, rivalries. And Catherine de' Medici is going to born into that very important family, but also very scheming family.

First of all, he was absolutely... Gorgeous. I think that helps. I mean, people are like, oh, yeah, you don't know when your kid is friendly. A Polish friend of mine told me that he's gorgeous.

They still talk about it.

He's dashing. He's absolutely dashing. Even Elizabeth I. He's dashing off.

What's very interesting is that there were rumors that he was a homosexual. He slept with his mignon, his favorite, with his men. There is no evidence whatsoever of this. If at all, it's the contrary. And I'm going to tell you two reasons why there are these rumors about him. And why they're not true. The first one is he had lots of mistresses.

But because it's the only love story we're going to have here. He loved his wife. It was a love match. He chose Louise de Lorraine Vaudemont, who was a guise. And her allegiance is going to go to him, not her family. And then you have all this. I love that Sharpie is taking notes.

And then the reason why as well, I know for sure that he didn't have any things with his mignon is because I've read hundreds, if not thousands of his letters. And he described his poo in his letters. So if he had had sex with one of his men, he would have said, oh, my God, having you inside me last night was so. Amazing. He never did. He never did. All he did is like, I kiss your hands and feet.

And it's just a mark of allegiance. People say because he said that to a man, I kiss your hand and feet. It's because he had sex with him. But his mother did the same. She wrote to him, I kiss your hand and feet. It was actually a mark of allegiance, a total loyalty.

What did he say about his poo? It was green and smelly. And he reported that to his... I'm sorry, guys. He reported that to his advisor. Can you imagine the Privy Councillor receiving the letter? My king had a green poo today and it was very smelly.

Easier to say.

For 11 years of marriage negotiation, 11 years, Elizabeth said, yes, I will. No, I won't. Yes, I will. No, I won't. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. I will. I won't. 11 years. I mean, you can call the French stupid. You can.

About 20, 25 years. And they've met each other twice. He came to England twice. And they partied together. I'm going to tell you a story. Did he sit on her lap and play the liar? I hope he didn't. I don't think she was the type of woman. But they had so much fun that she promised in front of everyone, I will marry you. in front of everyone, 1581. He's so happy.

Florence is their home. And they're going to become Dukes of Florence and Grand Dukes of Tuscany. But they also love the arts. They become very famous patron of the art. And to say that, I would like to say that Cafe Medici is actually one of the greatest patrons of the art of the second half of the 16th century. It's like the Kardashians. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry, Estelle. Oh, you hurt me.

He's like, oh my God, finally, you know, after 10 years. Can you imagine? But imagine like thinking that someone's going to marry you for 10 years and they don't. And the next morning she said, oh yeah, about last night. I didn't mean it, but it doesn't sound to you, Shappi, tell me your honest answer that she was absolutely hungover. Like, oh, my God, what did I say?

Well, you promised to marry someone. I didn't have that, but she did. And I think it's hilarious that, you know, the next day. Oh, my God, what did I what did I say? Oh, no, I didn't mean it. It's not going to happen.

She is the grandmother of Europe.

Well, she's the grandmother of the infanters of Spain.

Because she married her first daughter to Philip II.

And they had two daughters.

And then she has people in Lorraine, in Tuscany. She is the grandmother of Europe.

Well, for her, it's very hard because in 1585, there's the eighth religious civil war that is triggered, obviously, by the death of her son, her last son. Also, you have to realize that now, you know, she's counting her kids. Oh, my God. And there's still Henry.

But Henry and herself, so her favorite son, are going to drift apart because Henry III is going to make a secret alliance with Elizabeth I because he understands now that the Protestants don't want his crown, but the Guises and Mary Stuart... want much power in Europe.

So he's going to make a secret alliance and Catherine is going to get closer to the Guises, wanting to preserve the Catholic faith ultimately in France. So they drift apart. Catherine ends up hating Elizabeth I. And when Elizabeth ordered the execution of Mary Stuart in 1587, Catherine is almost like, who does she think she is? Like, I hate this woman.

And so you really have, those two are drifting apart. They're fighting. And Henry III is going to commit a very horrible thing. He's going to order the murder of the Guises. And Catherine de Menchie is going to know. That's the end. I think she really gets very ill. Mm-hmm.

At that time, so it's December 1588, she gets very ill and she has nowhere to recover because the country is in, honestly, it's hell. France is hell at that point. And she dies on the 5th January 1589. And I'm so glad she didn't see her favorite son, the beautiful Henry, murdered. He's murdered a few months later, in August 1589.

He's assassinated.

It ends because, obviously, Henry dies in 1589 as well. It's the end of the Valois. And then you have Henri de Navarre with his wife, Margaret of Valois, who become king and queen of France. That's the end of the Valois dynasty.

It is.

Estelle, do you want to lie down? I'm so sorry.

Well, I would like people to remember that Catherine is not the Dark Queen. All of this is absolutely untrue. And to show it to you, I'm going to discuss two things briefly with you. The first thing is the fact how much she loved her children, but also her grandchildren. She wrote loving letters to her granddaughters, the Spanish granddaughters. She sent them gifts, monkeys, part of these gifts.

I know, quite unusual. Not unusual for the time, if I'm really honest with you. But the thing that I find it very touching about Catherine is the way she treated Henry III's wife, Louise de Lorraine Vaudemont, who was a guise. by blood, but of Valois. by choice. And she gave her, at her death, Chenonceau.

She gave Chenonceau to this queen, who was then going to lose, obviously, her husband, and is going to fight until the end to get recognition for her husband, because she really believed that, you know, he did what he did because of what was happening in France at the time, where the Guise is. She was not perfect. And Greg, on that, you are totally right to point it out.

To be in power, you have to be ruthless. But she was not this horrible woman who poisoned anyone to get power. She was not this woman who created, you know, all the wars of religion. When you look at French books, it's always like Catherine the Midget is full.

Yeah, she was born Caterina, Caterina de' Medici. Her father is Lorenzo II de' Medici. And he was given the title of Duke of Urbino by his uncle, the Pope. But he didn't have the land. He had to fight the Romans. Actual Duke there. It's, you know, like... So sorry. So his uncle, the Pope... Is giving him a title.

And I think it comes because of, honestly, xenophobia against Italians, unfortunately, that, you know, prevailed in the 17th and the 18th century, gravely. So it is quite important to remember Catherine as someone who truly loved her children, her grandchildren, who tried to do her best for France. And a family.

Thank you so much for having me. I had so much fun, honestly.

But you have to put it into context of Italian wars. So when I say, like, let's be fair to him and the Pope, it was contested.

Yes, she's royal, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. So she is from... Can you say that again, slowly? Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne. I love her name. Such a beautiful language. It's like I've said je t'aime to you right now. Greg, you must learn it.

But Madeleine is from French blood, so she's a very important royal woman. It was all arranged, obviously, by the French, especially Francis I of France. Because I just discussed about the Italian wars. French thought they had some claims on Italian territories and having an alliance between the Medici, who were not, as you said, raw, very important, to a very raw French person.

They really thought that here they would lock the Pope on their side. They would lock territories, Italian territories, on their side. And obviously their heir was going to be Caterina, Catherine, to unite in many ways France. And Italy.

So it was a very strong political alliance.

Not the case at all. Unfortunately for Katerina, she lost both her parents. Her mother died. Honestly, we say fever. It's after giving birth. So she died of childbirth. She died 10 days later. And her father, who had to fight this Duke of Urbino... died of his wounds from the battle. So at three weeks old, she was an orphan, but also the heir of a very massive fortune and wealth.

But what's tragic, I think, for Katerina is the fact that then she's going to be taken by her grandmother, but her grandmother is going to die the year after.

And more people are going too, right? Because then she's going to be with her aunt. And again, she's going to die as well. And the Pope.

The great uncle is going to make sure that she is protected and well-educated. What was his name?

Uncle Pope. Uncle Pope. Uncle Ken. It's a life of turmoil and of great heartbreaks. What I want people to understand, just for a minute, how lonely Katerina was. Because she's got no brothers and sisters.

No, and it's very important to remember because then when we're going to go through her life and we're going to discuss her later, I want you to remember that she lost everyone she loved or could have loved and she was massively a political pawn.

I would like to say, please hire me.

No, don't wish you were wrong. Because I don't think it's a sad story. I'm sorry. Maybe I'm the only one feeling that.

Yeah, but like, OK, OK, let's tell the age. They're 14, 13, 14, right? But they're both the same age. At least she's not, you know, giving to an old man who's disgusting. And, you know, like at least and she fell in love. She does. And that's a tragedy of a life. But we can discuss that.

OK, Chappie, honey, she's in love with a prince. OK. She's going to have a wedding in Marseille, in Notre Dame de la Garde. This little girl who lost everyone.

Oh, Henri for you British people.

We love you. But Francis I is her father-in-law. It's going to become a father figure. She enters a family. Honestly, I think she won that one. It could have been way worse for her.

Catherine. Catherine.

Oh, gosh, it's not even near. But I would like to defend the French before saying what happened.

Or shall I defend the French after? To be fair, first of all, it's from one of the reports. Not all of them said that.

I should have been a lawyer. But yeah, all right. So there were courtesans and they dipped their breast in wine and offered it in men and it ended up in an orgy. But honestly, it's what French do, right? OK, so I'm curious to know...

Diane de Poitiers, yes. So this woman is very important. She's a noble woman and she's a widow. And I would like to say that women in the 16th century are very powerful once they become widow because they still have the wealth of their husband. And if they choose not to marry again, they're in charge of their household.

And it's very important here because we have the rise of a woman, highly intelligent and very wealthy, very beautiful. She's extremely beautiful. There's even a portrait of her with a breast out, a nipple out. Wine on them? No wine. No wine. I don't think she was invited to a wedding. But she's going to become the tutor of Henry, the young man. She's going to teach him.

Yeah, 19 years old. Totally Macron. And she's going to teach him more than languages and classical studies. And she's going to become his lover. OK. But I think the importance here to remember is that she's not just a lover in bed. She's queen in all but name. She's going to become like his shadow. And for Catherine, I told you she fell in love. He didn't fall in love with her.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk about Catherine.

My shoulders have drooped in sadness. Think about my orphan girl who has no one all her life. Greg, please. Who has no one all her life. She finally... falls in love with this boy. This boy's in love with this woman. This woman is so much more powerful, more beautiful. She has more everything. I'm getting Diana and Camilla vibes.

Worse than that, he gives her, well, later on when he becomes king, he gives her a seat at the Privy Council.