Duchess of Savoy. Born Margarete, the only daughter of Maximilian I von Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor and Marie de Bourgogne, Duchesse de Bourgogne. With her mother's early death, her father was compelled to sign the Treaty of Arras, which included the betrothal of his two-year-old daughter to Charles, the French Dauphin. In anticipation of a role as queen, she was educated at the French royal court. In 1491, however, Charles renounced the treaty and the betrothal and married to prevent Maximilian from taking as his second wife Anne of Brittany, marrying the lady himself. Margarete was then betrothed to Juan, heir to the thrones of Castile and Aragon. They were married in April 1497, but the groom died before the year was out, leaving her a pregnant widow at 17. Her only child was stillborn a few months later. By 1501, she married Filiberto II, "The Handsome" Duke of Savoy, reportedly she took over virtually all of the Duke's administrative duties. The marriage ended with her husband's death three years later. She is said to have sworn off marriage from that point, and wore a widow's cap in public for the rest of her life. She commissioned the construction of the Royal Monastery of Brou, built between 1506 and 1532 to house the tomb of her husband Philibert, his mother, Margaret of Bourbon and eventually herself. Following the early death of her brother in 1506, she was named by her father the regent for the Netherlands and guardian of her nephew Charles, later known as Emperor Charles V. Even after Charles came of age in 1515, he entrusted his aunt with the intermittent regency of the Netherlands. Her rule saw the extension of Habsburg control in the northeastern Netherlands, including the gradual subjection of Friesland; the annexation of the bishop of Utrecht's lands; and campaigns against Charles of Egmond, Duke of Gelderland. She negotiated the Peace of Cambrai in July 1529 with the French queen mother, known also as the Ladies Peace. She was also known as a patron of the arts. With her death at age fifty, she was entombed in an elaborate creation in the church at Brou. From 1961 until 1975 her portrait graced Belgian currency.