This day in history: Elizabeth of France's death

I'm inaugurating a new section on the blog called "This day in history". It consists of explaining some historical events happened on a specific date in the past. You can contribute with your own events, but respecting some rules: the events you elect have to be related to what we' ve studied in class.

On the 6th October 1644 Elizabeth of France, Philip IV's first wife, died in Madrid at the age of 41. She was the daughter of Henry IV of France and Mary of Medicis. She gave birth to 8 children, but when she died only two survived: prince Balthasar Charles, dead two years later when he was 15, and infanta Maria Theresa of Austria, whose marriage with Louis XIV of France was arranged in the Peace of the Pyrenees. 

These are some portraits by Queen Elizabeth painted by Diego de Silva and Velázquez, Philip IV's court painter: 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_France_(1602%E2%80%931644)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Retrato_ecuestre_de_Isabel_de_Borb%C3%B3n,_by_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez.jpg

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Retrato_de_Isabel_de_Borb%C3%B3n,_by_studio_of_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez.jpg

As prince Balthasar Charles died in 1646, Philip IV needed a new heir to the throne and in 1649 he married his niece Mariana of Austria. They had 5 children. Charles II was the youngest one and the only surviving boy. This was the reason why he became the king of the Hispanic Monarchy.

The French branch of Charles II's family played a significant role when the monarch died. Philip of Anjou, Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Austria's grandson, was designated by Charles II as the heir to the throne in his last testament. He finally became the king of Spain, after the WAr of Spanish Succession.