Anna im Jahr 1637: "More than ever Anne deplored her childless condition: and lamented that in spite of her prayers, offerings, and vows, after twenty-two years of wedlock, the blessing appeared further than ever from attainment. The alienation between Anne and her husband had become more confirmed, if less visibly demonstrated. ... Anne, with her fair beauty, her consciousness of her charms, her petulant and derisive wit, her determined self-will, and her Spanish inclinations, had become hateful, and sometimes even terrible, to the King." (in: Martha Walker Freer: The Married Life of Anna of Austria, Queen of France, Mother of Louis XIV., and Don Sebastian, King of Portugal (Historical Studies), Volume 2, id., p. 10).
Annas Verhältnis zu ihrem Gatten verschlechterte sich noch im Jahr 1637, als der Kardinal Richelieu herausbekommen hatte, dass sie Staatsgeheimnisse an die Feinde Frankreichs, an ihre spanische Familie, ihre Brüder Philipp IV. und Ferdinand, an ihre Schwester Maria, Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches deutscher Nation, und an ihre Schwägerin Henriette Maria in England weitergegeben hatte, die militärisch bei den Franzosen zu Niederlagen ["the fall of the fortresses of Corbie, and La Capelle; and ... the treacherous surrender of Câtelet to the Spaniards] geführt hatten. "'The unhappy princess [Anna] having no mercy to expect from her consort, or from a minister [Richelieu] who, on more than one occasion had threatened her with exile and divorce, believing herself lost, abandoned herself at first, without regard to appearance, or to prudence, to the anguish, and despair which possessed her.' 'Lost! lost!' she was overheard to murmur, 'the Cardinal will marry his niece to the King, and she will bear children never mind how!' alluding to Madame d'Aiguillon, whom Anne detested for her sanctimonious manners, and for her undeviating allegiance to her uncle [Richelieu]. ... M. de la Rochefoucauld relates in his Memoirs that the Queen proposed to him, in order to save her from perpetual imprisonment for life in the fortress of Hâvre, which she felt certain was a doom impending over her, that he should carry her off from Chantilly [wo sie sich gerade aufhielt], and convey her to the protection of her brother [Ferdinand] at Brussels. ... On the Feast of the Assumption [am 15. August 1637] Anne attended mass and received the Holy Eucharist in the chapel at Chantilly. Driven frantic by her terror and suspense ... Anne, while she knelt before the altar, sent for Le Gras, her secretary, and for Caussin, the King's confessor; and, with the Sacred Elements on her lips, she laid her hand on the altar and took oath that she had never held treasonable correspondence with any foreign potentate; adding, 'that she required and charged them both to repair to the presence of King Louis, and report what they had seen, and heard.' This terrible act of perjury invalidates for ever any statement put forth by Anna of Austria; and gives probability to all subsequent charges preferred by her enemies, showing, that there was no act, however flagrant, from which the Queen shrank in order to deliver herself from peril and disgrace. 'La reine est fausse: elle est perfide et ingrate [= "Die Königin ist falsch: sie ist verräterisch und undankbar],' was a plaint which often escaped Louis XIII. with more justice perhaps, than many have been inclined to believe; and explains the neglect in which Louis suffered his consort to exist, though she wore the crown-matrimonial of France, and was the eldest sister of the most puissant monarch in Christendom." (in: Martha Walker Freer: The Married Life of Anna of Austria, Queen of France, Mother of Louis XIV., and Don Sebastian, King of Portugal (Historical Studies), Volume 2, id., pp. 32-34/36-37/66). Und was tat der Kardinal Richelieu in dieser Situation, denn wenn der König und die französischen Untertanen vom Verrat der Königin gehört hätten, dann hätte jene sich glücklich nennen können, wenn man sie nur zurück nach Spanien geschickt hätte. Richelieu, den Anna mit allen Mitteln beseitigen bzw. töten wollte - bei allen drei bekannten Versuchen, jenen zu ermorden, war sie verwickelt gewesen - schwieg. Anna hatte den Kardinal Richelieu zu sich rufen lassen. Sie sprachen unter vier Augen. "The Queen than confessed all to Richelieu; showing, according to his statement, marvellous confusion at the deed of perjury which she had committed on the Feast of the Assumption." (in: Martha Walker Freer: The Married Life of Anna of Austria, Queen of France, Mother of Louis XIV., and Don Sebastian, King of Portugal (Historical Studies), Volume 2, id., p. 40). Nun hatte sie sich nur noch bei ihrem Gatten für ihre Vergehen, die Richelieu für "nennenswert" hielt, zu entschuldigen: "We [Anna] freely, and candidly confess to all the above-mentioned facts, and voluntary declare them to be true. We promise never more to be guilty of like faults; and we engage to live with the King, our very honoured lord and husband, as beseems a person who holds no other interest but the welfare of his royal person, and realm. In witness of which we sign this present with our own hand ... [am 17. August 1637 in Chantilly]." (in: Martha Walker Freer: The Married Life of Anna of Austria, Queen of France, Mother of Louis XIV., and Don Sebastian, King of Portugal (Historical Studies), Volume 2, id., p. 48).
"The Queen [Anna] ever held the lives and fortunes of her friends cheap, when her interest prompted a sacrifice. The King [Ludwig XIII.] was right, when he declared that Anne's disposition was ungrateful, and egotistical."(in: Martha Walker Freer: The Married Life of Anna of Austria, Queen of France, Mother of Louis XIV., and Don Sebastian, King of Portugal (Historical Studies), Volume 2, id., p. 66).
Im Jahr 1626 hatte das französische Königspaar zum letzten Mal intimen Verkehr. Erst im Dezember 1637 teilten die beiden, bedingt durch viele Zufälle - stürmisches Wetter, das verhinderte, dass der König nach Versailles entfliehen konnte, und stattdessen mit seiner Gattin im Louvre zu Abend aß - die Liebenswürdigkeit seiner Gattin, die sich sehnlich ein Kind wünschte - die Bitten so vieler seiner wenigen Freunde/Freundinnen, doch für Nachwuchs zu sorgen, damit sein jüngster Bruder Gaston nicht sein Nachfolger auf dem französischen Thron würde - wieder das Ehebett, und die Nation durfte hoffen.