Inés de la Torre, 1st Countess of la Torre
Inés Enríquez y Sandoval or Inés Enríquez Tavera de Saavedra, 1st Countess of la Torre (died after 1618) was a Spanish and later French court official. She served as Première dame d'honneur to the queen of France, Anne of Austria, from 1615 until 1618.
Appointment
Inés de la Torre was a daughter of Juan de Saavedra el Turquillo and Francisca Enríquez de Sandoval, and a cousin to the influential favorite of
Inés de la Torre served as lady-in-waiting to the queen, Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain. As a widow, she was created the first Countess de la Torre by the king.
In 1615, was appointed head of the ladies-in-waiting of Anne of Austria prior to her departure from Spain to her wedding to
France
When Anne arrived at the French royal court in Paris, a dilemma occurred, as she was given a new household composed of Frenchmen upon her arrival, but did not wish to dismiss her Spanish retinue.
Inés de la Torre had a powerful influence over queen Anne. The double court of queen Anne was not popular, as it caused jealousy and rivalry at court because of the queen's preference of her Spanish retinue, and she was accused of isolating herself with her Spanish ladies-in-waiting and of retaining her Spanish customs, which prevented her form adjusting to France and was regarded to have contributed to the difficulty of developing a relationship to the king, Louis XIII.[2] This situation was not changed by the queen mother regent, however, who remained queen and first lady at court, and preferred the self-imposed isolation of queen Anne.
Dismissal
In 1617, the regency government of
The loss of Inés de la Torre caused her to be replaced as the queen's favorite by Marie de Rohan who (supported by the duke de Luynes) introduced Anne to French fashion and customs and managed to effect an (if temporary) closer relation between the king and queen, but also in time became a much controversial favorite.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Akkerman, Nadine; Houben, Birgit, eds. (2014). The Politics of Female Households: Ladies-in-waiting across Early Modern Europe. Brill.
- ^ ISBN 0-8142-0429-5. Ohio State University Press (1985)