Francois de Valois, duc d'Alencon later duc d'Anjou

Les Derniers Valois

The Last Valois
Kings of France

Francois de Valois, duc d'Alencon, duc d'Anjou (1576), duc de Brabant (1582)

born March 18, 1554, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, died June 10, 1584, Château-Thierry

Francois would betray France revolting against the crown in the reigns of both Charles IX and Henri III
The vicomte de Turenne, a nephew of Francois de Montmorency who was a childhood friend of Francois', would write in his memoires that Francois was disfigured as a result of smallpox - the scars were so bad that it appeared that he had 2 noses. This is never shown in his likenesses.
Francois spent some 18 years wooing Queen Elizabeth of England, opposed in this pursuit by most of her court including the Earl of Leicester (her erstwhile suitor, until his wife died in mysterious circumstances)
He was often confused with his brother Henri since both held the title of duc d' Anjou. Henri held it from 1566-1573. Francois from birth to 1566, then later from 1576-1584. (Henri held the title but did not use it from 1573-1576, when he used the title of King of Poland and/or King of France)
He would later invade the Low Countries, briefly taking the title of Duc de Brabant, before being expelled by the Spanish

Portraits correctly catalogued as those of Francois:


as a child, atelier de Clouet	from Joconde	Portrait by the celebrated miniaturist Nicolas Hilliard, link to source no longer works This would date to later in his life, when he pursued the hand of Queen Elizabeth	Another Hilliard

portrait of Francois as the Duke of Brabant Note that he is also called the duc d'Alencon, a title that he had abandoned years before taking that of Brabant, further evidence of the confusion of his titles	Engraving from Custos, Dominicus: Atrium heroicum Caesarum publiched 1600-1602	from the 1587 edition of Ronsard's Oeuvres Completes, Vol 5. He is not a handsome man by any means even though his smallpox scars do not appear on the engraving.	This 1582 portrait comes closest to showing the disfigurement from smallpox www.bildindex.de