Margaret of Parma (28 December 1522-18 January 1586) was Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1559 to 1567, succeeding Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy and preceding Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, and again from 1578 to 1582, succeeding Don John of Austria and preceding Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort.
Biography[]
Margaret of Parma was born in Oudenaarde, Spanish Netherlands on 28 December 1522, the daughter of Emperor Charles V and his mistress Johanna Maria van der Gheynst. She was raised by her great-aunt, Archduchess Margaret of Austria and her aunt, Mary of Austria, both of whom served as Governors of the Spanish Netherlands. In 1529, she married Alessandro de Medici, the Duke of Florence, and she preferred to use the Italian language for the rest of her life. Her husband was assassinated in 1537, and she was remarried to Ottavio Farnese, the Duke of Parma, a year later. The couple lived separately for most of their lives, with Margaret serving as Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1559 to 1567. She retired to L'Aquila in Italy in 1567, and she died in Ortona in 1586 at the age of 63.