Margherita Gonzaga, Duchess of Lorraine

Margherita Gonzaga (2 October 1591 – 7 February 1632) was Duchess of Lorraine from 1606 until her husband's death in 1624.

She was born in Mantua, the eldest daughter of Vincenzo I Gonzaga and Eleonora de' Medici; she was also a sister of Francesco IV Gonzaga, Ferdinando I Gonzaga, Vincenzo II Gonzaga and Eleonora Gonzaga. Her brothers all succeeded their father as Duke of Mantua and Eleonora became Holy Roman Empress by her marriage to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Marriage

She married Henry II, Duke of Lorraine on 24 April 1606. He had previously been married to Catherine of Navarre, sister of King Henry IV of France, but the marriage was childless due to the bride's age (Catherine was forty years old at the time of her marriage).

Henry and Margherita had four daughters, two of whom survived infancy:

• Stillborn daughter (February 1607);
• Nicole of Lorraine (3 October 1608 – 23 February 1657), married her cousin, Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, by whom she had no issue and from whom she was separated in 1635;
• A daughter (10 February 1611 - 11 February 1611);
• Claude of Lorraine (15 October 1612 – 2 August 1648), married her cousin, Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine, by whom she had issue before dying in childbirth.

Both of Margherita's two daughters married their cousins, who were Henry's successors due to the fact that Margherita had not given him a son to inherit his estates.

Death

Margherita died in Nancy in 1632 at the age of forty. She had been a widow since 1624.

Ancestry