Margaret was born at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 5 June 1523 the youngest daughter and child of King Francis I of France and Claude, Duchess of Brittany.

Margaret was very close to her paternal aunt, Marguerite of Angoulême, who took care of her and her sister Madeleine during her childhood,[1] and her sister-in-law Catherine de' Medici.

A lance wielded by his opponent the Count of Montgomery accidentally struck his helmet at a point beneath the visor and shattered.

Instead it was a solemn, subdued event conducted at midnight on 9 July in Saint Paul's, a small church not far from the Tournelles Palace where Margaret's dying brother was ensconced.

He later married Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, the daughter of King Philip by his marriage to Margaret's niece, Elisabeth of Valois.