Catherine was born near Madrid in December 1485. She was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, whose marriage had united Spain. At three years of age Catherine was betrothed to King ...

Catherine's mother died when she was two-weeks-old and her father soon afterwards. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine's uncle Pope Clement VII arranged her marriage to the duke of Orléans ...

Catherine McCabe Broderick celebrates her 100th birthday with her sons, from the left, Harold Broderick and Christopher ...

This story appears in the March/April 2017 issue of National Geographic History magazine ... the year of the wedding between the 14-year-old Catherine de’ Medici (the niece of Pope Clement ...