Anna of Saxony: The Scarlet Lady of Orange

In the early 1570s, a scandal worthy of the court of Henry VIII set Europe’s noble courts ablaze with one of century’s most shocking marital debacles. Anna of Saxony (1544-1577), wife of the Dutch prince and rebel leader William of Orange, had embarked on a torrid love affair with the father of one of the age’s greatest painters and was pregnant with her lover’s child. The princess’ pregnancy and subsequent descent into madness signaled the end of a troubled royal marriage that had begun full of promise and with one of the most spectacular wedding celebrations of the age.