ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on the reign of Philip III, the first king to grow up with the expectation of employing his nephews someday. He directed special attention towards the children of his sister Catalina. Since their father, Duke Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, pursued pro-French policies, gaining control over the princes and princesses of Savoy was of particular importance. Filiberto, Philip III's favourite nephew, was endowed with several offices, while two princesses named Catalina were recruited to reside in the Descalzas monastery. In favouring the Savoyards, Philip III rejected the pleas on behalf of the Styrian archdukes, the brothers of his new spouse Margaret of Styria. The chapter highlights the emergence of the rivalry between the Savoyards and the Styrian as well as the development of a female dynastic career in the Descalzas, pursued first by Savoyard princess and later by illegitimate daughters of the seventeenth-century Habsburgs.
