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Claude of France
Duchess of Brittany, Queen consort of France
Titles	Princess of France
Born	October 14, 1499(1499-10-14)
Died	July 20, 1524 (aged 24)
Consort	1 January 1515 - 20 July 1524
Consort to	Francis I
Issue	Louise of Valois, Charlotte of Valois, Francis, Dauphin, Duke of Brittany, Henry II of France, Madeleine, Queen consort of Scotland, Charles, Duke of Orléans, Margaret, Duchess consort of Savoy
Royal House	Valois-Orléans
Father	Louis XII of France
Mother	Anne of Brittany

Claude of France (14 October 1499 – 20 July 1524), Queen Consort of France and Duchess of Brittany in her own right, was the eldest daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne, Duchess of Brittany.

As the first wife of Francis I of France, she was the mother of Henry II, and thus grandmother of the last three kings of the Valois line and also of Elisabeth, Queen consort of Spain, Claude, Duchess consort of Lorraine, and Marguerite, the Queen consort of Henry IV of France.

Since her mother, Anne of Brittany, had no surviving sons, Claude was the heiress of Brittany. The crown of France, however, could pass only to and through male heirs, according to Salic Law. In 1504, Anne, eager to keep Brittany separate from the French crown, effected the Treaty of Blois, which promised Claude's hand in marriage to the future Holy Roman Emperor Charles V with the promise of Brittany and the Duchy of Burgundy. The prospect of a reduced France surrounded on several sides was unacceptable to the Valois, and so the betrothal was soon canceled.

The French nobles argued against a betrothal to a foreigner, urging Louis XII to marry her to her cousin François, Duke of Angoulême, "who is at least all French," and was also the heir-presumptive to the French crown. In 1506, the child was betrothed to François. In 1514, when her mother died, Claude became Duchess of Brittany; and on 18 May 1514, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, she married François.

French Monarchy-
Capetian Dynasty, House of Valois
(Valois-Orléans branch)

Louis XII Children    Claude of France             Renée of France

Claude, the pawn of so much dynastic maneuvering, was short in stature and afflicted with scoliosis, which gave her a hunched back. She was eclipsed at court by her mother-in-law, Louise of Savoy, and her sister-in-law, the literary Marguerite, Queen Consort of Navarre.

When François became King in 1515, two of Claude's ladies-in-waiting were the English sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn. Mary became the king's mistress before returning home in about 1519. Anne served as Claude's official translator whenever there were English visitors, such as in 1520. Anne was also a temporary companion to Claude's younger sister, Renée. Anne Boleyn returned to England in 1521, where she eventually became the Queen Consort of Henry VIII.

Claude's life was spent in an endless round of annual pregnancies. Her husband had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. Claude imposed a strict moral code on her own household, which only a few like Mary Boleyn chose to flout.

Claude of France with her daughters: at the front, Charlotte (left) and Louise, both of whom died young; right and behind, Madeleine, Queen consort of Scotland; left and behind, Marguerite, Duchess of Savoy. Left and behind Marguerite is Eleanor of Habsburg, the second wife of Francis I.

Claude died in 1524, when she was only twenty-four. She was initially succeeded as ruler of Brittany by her eldest son, the Dauphin François, who became Duke François IV, with Claude's widower King François I as guardian. After the Dauphin's untimely death in 1536, Claude's second son, Henry, Duke of Orleans, became Dauphin and Duke of Brittany. He later became King of France as Henry II.

Claude's widowed husband himself remarried several years after Claude's death, to Eleanor of Habsburg, the sister of Emperor Charles V. The atmosphere at court became considerably more debauched, and there were rumours that King François's death in 1547 was due to syphilis.

Claude is remembered in a classic small plum, the size of a walnut, pale green with a glaucous bloom. It is still called "Reine Claude" (literally, "Queen Claude,") in France and is known in England as a "greengage."