The Last Valois
Kings of France
King Henri III
Contemporary Rulers in Europe
Men who ruled in Europe during the lifetime of King Henri III
Emperor Maximilian (1568-1576)
Succeeded to the throne in 1568, close to the time of succession of Henri III but was considerably older.
Emperor Rudolf II (1552 - 1612)
The son of Maximilian, was only a year older than Henri III, and came to the throne at about the same time, but reigned far longer and his images are of an older man. He too wore ugly hats.
Bust of Emperor Rudolf II Adriaen de Vries (c. 1545-1626) Prague, 1607
King Philip II of Spain (1527-1598)
Portraits of the king as a young man, around the time of his marriage to Mary Tudor, elder sister of Queen Elizabeth
By
the time of Henri III's accession, Philip was an old man, prone to
simple black garb, being eternally in mourning for dead children wives,
nephews etc.
The portrait in armor is
pure propaganda: the king only took the
field once - he watched as the Duke of Savoy won the battle of
Saint-Quentin in 1557