to Paris. In the meantime, the relationship between Margaret and her brother Henry III had become very strained. While the King alternated between a dissolute life and crises of mysticism, Margaret encouraged mockery against his morals and she made enemies of two of his chief mignons the Duke of Epernon and the Duke of Joyeuse, who retaliated by circulating very injurious reports about her private life. In addition, Margaret encouraged Alençon to continue his expedition to the Netherlands, which King Henry III wished to interrupt, fearing a war with Spain. When she fell sick in June 1583, rumors claimed that she was pregnant by Champvallon. Henri III was soon displeased by her reputation and behavior and expelled her from the court, an unprecedented and humiliating measure that scandalized Europe. The Queen's court was stopped by Henry III's guards and some of her servants were arrested and interrogated by the King himself, especially about the possible birth of a bastard child by Jacques de Harlay or an abortion. Moreover, warned of the rumors, the King of Navarre refused to receive his wife. He gave Henry III embarrassed explanations, then compensations. The Queen of Navarre remained for eight months in uncertainty between the French and Navarre courts, waiting for the negotiations to be concluded. The Huguenot warlords found there the casus belli they were waiting for and Navarre took advantage of it to seize Mont-de-Marsan, which Henry III agreed to cede to him to close the incident. On 13 April 1584, after long negotiations, Margaret was allowed to return to her husband's court in Navarre, but she received an icy reception. The situation got worse. In June 1584, her brother Francis died and she missed her most valuable ally. With Alençon's death, Henry of Navarre became heir presumptive to the French throne, and he was under increased pressure to produce an heir. In 1585, his new lover Diane d'Andouins, nicknamed La Belle Corisande, pressed the King of Navarre to repudiate Margaret, hoping to be married to him. Rebellion and exile In 1585, in an unprecedented gesture for a Queen of the sixteenth century, Margaret abandoned her husband. She rallied the Catholic League, which united as well the intransigent Catholics with the people hostile to the policy of her family and her husband. Determined to overcome her difficulties, Margaret masterminded a coup d'état and seized power over Agen, one of her appanages. The