Isabella Clara Eugenia [SEP] mother
daughter of Philip II of Spain and his third wife Elisabeth of Valois.
Her father, Philip II, was reportedly overjoyed at her birth and declared himself to be happier on the occasion than he would have been at the birth of a son. Philip already had a male heir, Carlos, Prince of Asturias, the child of his first marriage to Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal; however, father and son had never developed a close rapport and frequently lived in conflict with one another.
Isabella's mother had
of Parma into France in an effort to unseat Henry IV, and perhaps dreaming of placing his favourite daughter, Isabel Clara Eugenia, on the French throne. Elizabeth of Valois, Philip's third wife and Isabella's mother, had already ceded any claim to the French Crown with her marriage to Philip. However the "Parlement de Paris", in power of the Catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella Clara Eugenia was "the legitimate sovereign" of France. Philip's interventions in the fighting – sending the Duke of Parma