Constance of Castile was the second wife of Louis VII, King of France

Louis VII of France

Louis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England...

, following his divorce from Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

. She was a daughter of Alphonse VII

Alfonso VII of León

Alfonso VII , born Alfonso Raimúndez, called the Emperor , became the King of Galicia in 1111 and King of León and Castile in 1126. Alfonso first used the title Emperor of All Spain, alongside his mother Urraca, once his mother vested him with the direct rule of Toledo in 1116...

, King of Galicia, León and Castile

Imperator totius Hispaniae

Imperator totius Hispaniae is a Latin title meaning "Emperor of all Spain". In Spain in the Middle Ages, the title "emperor" was used under a variety of circumstances from the ninth century onwards, but its usage peaked, as a formal and practical title, between 1086 and 1157...

, and Berenguela of Barcelona

Berenguela of Barcelona

Berenguela or Berengaria of Barcelona was Queen consort of Castile, León and Galicia She was the daughter of Raimon III of Barcelona and Dulce Aldonza Milhaud...

. Her maternal grandparents were Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona

Ramon Berenguer III the Great was the count of Barcelona, Girona, and Ausona from 1082 , Besalú from 1111, Cerdanya from 1117, and Provence, in the Holy Roman Empire, from 1112, all until his death in Barcelona in 1131...

 and his third wife Douce I, Countess of Provence.

The official reason for her husband's divorce from Eleanor of Aquitaine had been that he was too close a relative of Eleanor for the marriage to be legal by Church standards; however, he was even more closely related to Constance.

Constance died giving birth to her second child. Desperate for a son, her husband remarried a mere five weeks after her death.

Constance was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, France.

Children

Constance bore her husband two children:

1. Margaret of France, 1158–1197, who married first Henry the Young King
   Henry the Young King
   Henry, known as the Young King was the second of five sons of King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine but the first to survive infancy. He was officially King of England; Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Maine.-Early life:Little is known of the young prince Henry before the events...
   
    of England, and then Béla III of Hungary
   Béla III of Hungary
   Béla III was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was educated in the court of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I who was planning to ensure his succession in the Byzantine Empire till the birth of his own son...
   
   , leaving no living children.
2. Alys of France
   Alys, Countess of the Vexin
   Alys, Countess of the Vexin was the daughter of King Louis VII of France and his second wife Constance of Castile.- Life :...
   
   , 1160–1220, who was betrothed (but never married) to Richard I of England
   Richard I of England
   Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...
   
   , and later married to William IV of Ponthieu
   William IV of Ponthieu
   William III Talvas was William III, Count of Ponthieu and William IV . He was Count of Ponthieu, ruler of a small province in northern France that fell under the suzerainty of the dukes of Normandy since at least the mid 11th century...
   
   .

Ancestry