| “ | I don't need a husband. I already have a mother to make me miserable. | ” |
— Claude to Mary in Acts of War
| ||
Claude de Valois is a main character in the second, third, and fourth season of Reign. She is portrayed by Rose Williams.
Claude is the daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici, making her a Princess of France. She is also the wife of Luc Narcisse, as well as the ex-fiancé of Leith Bayard. Initially sent away for her bad behaviour in her early childhood, Claude caused quite a stir when she returned to French Court as a teenager. She proved to be a nuisance towards her mother and did not get off to a good start with Kenna due to jealousy, as she is married to Sebastian, and Claude used to have a sexual relationship with him. Later on, Claude learned the reason to why her mother resented her. Catherine believed that when Claude was a child, she had killed her baby sisters, Emone and Henrietta. With the help of Bash, they proved Claude's innocence and unknown to Claude, it was Bash's mother, Diane de Poitiers who killed her sisters. Claude's relationship with her mother has been improving greatly. Claude is a member of the House of Valois by birth and the House of Narcisse by marriage.
Biography
Early Life
During her childhood, Claude had an intense jealously toward her twin sisters, Emone and Henrietta. The nanny informed Catherine that Claude looked at the twins with such hatred and pinched them. It did not sit well with Catherine. She asks Claude if this accusation is true. Claude says that they pulled at her dress and ripped the flowers off the cloth. Catherine then tells her that she is not pleased. When the twins are found dead in their cribs it is believed by Catherine that Claude killed her younger twin sisters by suffocating them because Catherine didn't pay as much attention to her anymore. Later it is learned that it was not Claude who killed them but it was Bash's mother, Diane de Poitiers. It's also mentioned that she had a sexual past with Bash.
In the Series
Season One
She was mentioned both in Royal Blood and The Consummation.
In Royal Blood, Clarissa looked trough Catherine's things she found a strands of hair from all of Catherine's legitimate children and one of them was listed as belonging to Claude.
In Consummation, Catherine was annoyed at the fact that prawns were going to be served at her funeral because Claude is allergic.
Personality
Princess Claude appears to be a glorious troublemaker, and primarily sees other women as competition and delights in destroying the stability of women's lives. It was recently revealed that as a little girl, Claude was deeply jealous of her infant twin sisters, because she didn't get a lot of attention anymore. Claude also resents her mother for trying to kill her, and blaming her for killing the twins; she also feels that her mother has not forgiven her even though she was absolved of all blame. Claude is also shown as being manipulative on a number of occasions especially when she wants something.
Physical Appearance
Claude is a miniature of her mother. She is in her mid to late teens with brown eyes, and curly strawberry blonde hair which she wears either down or up. Claude wears beautiful clothes and accessories, which befit her status as a Princess of France.
Relationships
Louis of Condé: She became engaged to Condé as a political match made by Mary in an attempt to smooth Catholic-Protestant relations.
Leith Bayard: A guard assigned by Catherine to babysit Claude wherever she went so as to keep her from promiscuity. They both wind up forming feelings for each other.
Luc Narcisse:
Catherine de' Medici: Her mother, who hated Claude thinking she killed her twin sisters, Emone and Henrietta, when she never did. It was later revealed to be Diane.
Francis II: Her older brother.
Sebastian: Had a sexual relationship with him when they were younger, though Bash was unaware of their familial relation with each other.Kenna de Poitiers: Despite Kenna's attempted kind gestures and invitations to her, Claude's jealousy of Bash's marriage to Kenna caused tension. Later on, Kenna helps save Claude's life from Queen Catherine poisoning her slowly with daily soup posed as a gesture to "treat" her illness.
Appearances
| Season One | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status | ||
| Pilot | Absent | ||
| Snakes in the Garden | Absent | ||
| Kissed | Absent | ||
| Hearts and Minds | Absent | ||
| A Chill in the Air | Absent | ||
| Chosen | Absent | ||
| Left Behind | Absent | ||
| Fated | Absent | ||
| For King and Country | Absent | ||
| Sacrifice | Absent | ||
| Inquisition | Absent | ||
| Royal Blood | Mentioned | ||
| The Consummation | Mentioned | ||
| Dirty Laundry | Absent | ||
| The Darkness | Absent | ||
| Monsters | Absent | ||
| Liege Lord | Absent | ||
| No Exit | Absent | ||
| Toy Soldiers | Absent | ||
| Higher Ground | Absent | ||
| Long Live the King | Absent | ||
| Slaughter of Innocence | Absent | ||
| Season Two | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status | ||
| The Plague | Absent | ||
| Drawn and Quartered | Absent | ||
| Coronation | Absent | ||
| The Lamb and the Slaughter | Mentioned | ||
| Blood for Blood | Absent | ||
| Three Queens | Absent | ||
| The Prince of the Blood | Appears | ||
| Terror of the Faithful | Appears | ||
| Acts of War | Appears | ||
| Mercy | Appears | ||
| Getaway | Appears | ||
| Banished | Appears | ||
| Sins of the Past | Appears | ||
| The End of Mourning | Appears | ||
| Forbidden | Credit Only | ||
| Tasting Revenge | Credit Only | ||
| Tempting Fate | Appears | ||
| Reversal of Fortune | Appears | ||
| Abandoned | Credit Only | ||
| Fugitive | Appears | ||
| The Siege | Appears | ||
| Burn | Appears | ||
| Season Three | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status | ||
| Three Queens, Two Tigers | Appears | ||
| Betrothed | Appears | ||
| Extreme Measures | Appears | ||
| The Price | Appears | ||
| In a Clearing | Appears | ||
| Fight or Flight | Appears | ||
| The Hound and the Hare | Appears | ||
| Our Undoing | Appears | ||
| Wedlock | Appears | ||
| Bruises That Lie | Appears | ||
| Succession | Credit Only | ||
| No Way Out | Appears | ||
| Strange Bedfellows | Appears | ||
| To The Death | Appears | ||
| Safe Passage | Appears | ||
| Clans | Appears | ||
| Intruders | Appears | ||
| Spiders in a Jar | Appears | ||
| Season Four | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Appearance Status | ||
| With Friends Like These | Appears | ||
| A Grain of Deception | Appears | ||
| Leaps of Faith | Appears | ||
| Playing with Fire | Appears | ||
| Highland Games | Appears | ||
| Love & Death | Appears | ||
| Hanging Swords | Credit Only | ||
| Uncharted Waters | Appears | ||
| Pulling Strings | Credit Only | ||
| A Better Man | Credit Only | ||
| Dead of Night | Appears | ||
| The Shakedown | Appears | ||
| Coup de Grace | Credit Only | ||
| A Bride. A Box. A Body. | Appears | ||
| Blood in the Water | Appears | ||
| All It Cost Her | Appears | ||
Name
There are two origins of Claude's name.
- The name Claude is a French/Latin name usually for men, originating from the Latin Claudius it means "persevering" and can also be an uncommon given name for females.
- The other origin of the name Claude is from the Saint Claudius of Besançon. Henry's grandmother Anne, Duchess of Brittany prayed to this Saint while pregnant with his mother; her daughter lived and so Anne named her Claude.
Trivia
- As seen in Mercy, Claude is an accomplished harpsichordist.
- Claude was named after her paternal grandmother Queen Claude, Duchess of Brittany.
- Historically, Princess Claude was her mother's favorite daughter, after she married she often left her home in Lorraine to visit her mother and likewise Catherine enjoyed visiting her daughter often.
- Unlike what has been seen on the show, in real life Claude was not a promiscuous wild child; that label applied to her sister Margaret of Valois.
- Historically, Princess Claude married Charles III, Duke of Lorraine.
- Princess Claude was only 11 when she married her husband, and 9 children resulted from this happy union.
- Historically, Claude was 27 when she died in childbirth.
- In The Consummation, Queen Catherine says that Claude is her youngest daughter. Historically Princess Margaret of Valois was her youngest daughter.
- Claude is believed to have killed her twin sisters Emone and Henrietta by stuffing flowers in their throats. This was revealed in "Terror of the Faithful".
- Claude was absolved of all blame in this situation, when it was revealed that Diane killed them by leaving the window open and letting them freeze to death. This was revealed in Banished
- Claude had a sexual relationship with her half-brother Sebastian at a young age by convincing him that Henry was not his real father.
- She was engaged to Louis in Acts of War.
- She married Luc Narcisse in Playing with Fire.
Gallery
Claude de Valois has a photo gallery. |
See Also