Isabella of France

Isabella of France, sometimes described as the She-Wolf of France, was Queen of England as the wife of King Edward II and de facto regent of England from 1327 until 1330. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of King Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre. Isabella arrived in England at age twelve during a period of growing conflict between the king and the powerful baronial factions; her husband was notorious for the patronage he lavished on his favourite, Piers Gaveston, but she supported Edward during these early years, forming a working relationship with Piers and using her ties to the French monarchy to bolster her own authority. After Gaveston's death at the hands of the barons in 1312, Edward turned to a new favourite, Hugh Despenser the Younger, and attempted to take revenge on the barons, resulting in the Despenser War and a period of internal repression across England.