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Felipe III, King of Spain 1598-1621,
(1578-1621)
After the death of the aged Philip II, the melancholy, retiring and
religious Philip III succeeded him. Apparently Philip II had lamented
that God had not given him a more capable son.
The twenty year old Philip III devoted himself to religious
ceremonies and court festivities while leaving the government in the
hands of the Duke of Lerma. At twenty-one he married his cousin
Archduchess Margarethe of Austria; she died giving birth to their
eighth child. Of the eight, only four survived into adulthood.
At almost 43, Philip III died only ten years after his wife from an
ironical rigidity of court etiquette. He was asphyxiated in his
bedroom by the fumes of a charcoal brazier left there accidentally;
as
the person whose office it was to remove it was not present, no-one
else dared do it.
Source: Leo van de Pas |
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