Sebastian de Poitiers (1540-1561) was Master of Horse and Hunt of France and the illegitimate son of King Henry II of France. He served as a general during the Italian War of 1551-59, and he was also known as a womanizer at court. In 1557, he was briefly betrothed to marry Mary, Queen of Scots when his father attempted to legitimize Sebastian and make him his heir, but the marriage was called off after the Catholic Church refused to permit Sebastian's legitimization and after Mary's mother Mary of Guise objected to their wedding. Mary married Sebastian's younger brother Prince Francis instead, while Sebastian married Mary's lady-in-waiting Kenna, the King's mistress.
Biography[]
Sebastian in 1557
Sebastian de Poitiers was the illegitimate son of King Henry II of France and his mistress Diane de Poitiers, and he was raised at the French court with his younger half-brother Francis and Francis' fiancee Mary, Queen of Scots. He became known as a flirtatious womanizer at court, as well as becoming known as a great warrior and France's fastest horseman. In 1557, Sebastian also distinguished himself as a military commander, having been known as the fastest rider in the kingdom. At the Battle of Outreau, he was ambushed and defeated by the English, and he was heavily wounded; Thomas, Lord of Palmela was later killed by Francis after he was discovered to have warned the English about the French army's plans to assist Scotland.
In 1558, with the death of Queen Mary of England, King Henry II sought to accelerate Francis and Mary's wedding so that Mary could lay claim to England as well as Scotland and restore England to Catholicism. However, Queen Catherine de Medici opposed the marriage, as Nostradamus had prophesied that the marriage would lead to Francis' death. Meanwhile, Diane de Poitiers secretly communicated with Father Ronissi about legitimizing Sebastian, thus making him the new heir to the throne of France. After Catherine discovered Diane of Poitiers' efforts to legitimize her son, she forced Diane to flee the castle, and Sebastian also decided to flee, accompanying Mary as she fled from Catherine following the murder of one of her ladies-in-waiting on Catherine's orders. Sebastian and Mary were recaptured after a week and taken back to Paris, where Sebastian was jailed. Mary convinced King Henry to legitimize Sebastian and allow for her to marry him instead of Francis, thus making her the fiancée of the new crown prince and saving Francis' life from Nostradamus' prophecy. Sebastian was freed from the dungeon and served as regent while King Henry travelled to Rome to legitimize his son, and Henry had Catherine imprisoned before he left. However, Henry failed in his attempts to legitimize Sebastian, and Mary's mother Mary of Guise ultimately convinced her daughter not to marry Sebastian and to marry Francis instead, ending Diane's plot to legitimize Sebastian and change the succession. Sebastian instead married Mary's lady-in-waiting Kenna, and he was granted lands and titles by his father to compensate for his loss of succession. He refused to receive the title of Duke, opting for the lower title of Baron so that he could remain at the French court and protect Mary.
After his brother Francis became King in 1559, he was made the King's Deputy so that he could serve his brother with a title. He remained a loyal supporter of his brother and his sister-in-law as Huguenot-Catholic tensions rose in the lead-up to the French Wars of Religion, but he failed to convince his brother to be more lenient towards arrested Protestants.