In like manner Diane, as we know, wore
mourning all her life for her husband the Senechal de Breze. Her
colors were black and white, and the king was wearing them at the
tournament when he was killed. Catherine, no doubt in imitation of her
rival, wore mourning for Henri II. for the rest of her life. She
showed a consummate perfidy toward Diane de Poitiers, to which
historians have not given due attention. At the king's death the
Duchesse de Valentinois was completely disgraced and shamefully
abandoned by the Connetable, a man who was always below his
reputation. Diane offered her estate and chateau of Chenonceaux to the
queen. Catherine then said, in presence of witnesses:--
"I can never forget that she made the happiness of my dear Henri. I am
ashamed to accept her gift; I wish to give her a domain in place of
it, and I shall offer her that of Chaumont-sur-Loire."
Accordingly, the deed of exchange was signed at Blois in 1559. Diane,
whose sons-in-law were the Duc d'Aumale and the Duc de Bouillon (then
a sovereign prince), kept her wealth, and died in 1566 aged sixty-six.
She was therefore nineteen years older than Henri II.
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