Alys was the daughter of Louis VII of France and his wife Constance of Castile. Her half-sisters Marie and Alix were the daughters of Louis by his first wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Her full sister was Marguerite, married to Henry the Young King. A younger half-brother was Phillip II, Louis' son and heir. When Alys was about 8 years old, in 1169, Louis and Henry arranged her betrothal to Richard, the future Lionheart. Alys was sent to England to be brought up by Eleanor. When she was still a preteenager, rumors began to swirl about her and Henry II. Sources dispute the allegation that he raped her, but differ on whether they eventually formed a relationship. In 1177, Church leaders threatened to place the Plantagenet French domains under interdict unless Henry II followed through on his promise to allow Alys to marry Richard. Henry continued to stall for time and Alys remained in England, unmarried long after it would have been normal for noble girls of her era to be left on the shelf.Henry died in 1189, but still Alys remained in England, following Eleanor's court. In 1191, while still engaged to her, Richard married Berengaria of Navarre, but still refused to release Alys back to her family. Phillip urged a marriage to Richard's brother John, but Eleanor of Aquitaine nixed that idea. With Richard imprisoned in Austria, Phillip was able to demand that Alys be returned, but would have to negotiate her dowry back from the Plantagenet family. With her reputation tarnished and no dowry, Alys was in danger of being an old maid permanently. Phillip made her Countess of the Vexin in her own right, hoping to tempt a husband. Finally, in August, 1195, William IV, Count of Pothieu married Alys and made her the mother of three children. Her daughter Marie became a famous court lady of the era. Alys died in 1220, four years after John of England.
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