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Filippa Duci
Italian courtesan, mistress of French King Henry II From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Filippa Duci (or Ducci), dame de Couy (French: Philippe Desducs; 1520 – before October 1586) was an Italian-born French noblewoman, the mistress of Henry II and the mother of Diane de France.[2]
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Born in Moncalieri, Filippa's father was Gian Antonio Duci, member of a minor Italian noble family.[3] During the Italian Wars in 1537,[4] the French dauphin Henry (later Henry II of France) stayed with a squire, Filippa's brother, also named Gian Antonio Duci.[5] Henry was seduced by Filippa on first sight, and she became his mistress.[6] When Henri heard Duci was pregnant, he arranged for her to be maintained until she gave birth.[7] Duci gave birth to their daughter, Diane de France, in Paris in 1538.[2] This proved that Henry was not sterile;[8] he had been married to Catherine de Médici, yet had still not produced an heir due to urological problems.[9] The baby was named Diane after Henry's love, his mistress Diane de Poitiers,[10] who raised the child along with her own two children.[11]
In 1541, Filippa was granted 400 livres tournois a year for life in an Ordinaire de Touraine and was allowed to retire to a Piedmontese convent by Francis I of France.[6] She married the Italian gentleman and privy councillor Jean Bernardin de Saint-Severin in 1546.[1] After Diane was legitimized, Filippa was known as dame de Bléré en Touraine.[1] In 1582, she became a lady in waiting to queen dowager Catherine de Médici.[1]
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