Marie de Medici Queen of France

So, we returned to Paris for a few days and one of the places we went was the Jardin de Luxembourg which I remembered from stories in my high school French books. There we were, walking the chat paths, seeing statues and gardens when we came to this statue. Marie de Medici was Henri IV's second wife, not a very good politician or considered pleasant or charming. She was a good friend of Cardinal Richelieu, who negotiated her reconciliation with her son Louis XIII after Henri IV's death. She was the grandmother of Louis XIV.

She was Queen of France even though she lacked the qualities most useful for being queen and she survived well into her sixties!