Born at
Pesaro, Francesco Maria was the son of
Guidobaldo II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Count of
Montefeltro and
Vittoria Farnese, Princess of
Parma. He was raised between 1565 and 1568 at the Royal court of
Philip II of Spain. While there he met a Spanish girl and informed his father of his intention to marry her. But his father would not allow it and demanded he return to Urbino. In 1570, Francesco Maria married
Lucrezia d'Este, a daughter of
Ercole II d'Este. His father died only a few years later, in 1574, and Francesco Maria succeeded his father as Duke of Urbino. By 1580, the family estate was in crisis and Francesco Maria was forced to sell his family's titles – the
Duchy of Sora and
Arce – for 100,000
scudi to
Giacomo Boncompagni. Francesco Maria's marriage, though, remained childless and Francesco Maria needed a male heir. Without one, his family's remaining titles would lapse on his death and his entire estate would be acquired, by default, by the
Papal States. So in 1599, after the death of first wife Lucrezia, he married his cousin
Livia della Rovere, 36 years his junior. On 16 May, 1605, their long-expected and only child
Federico Ubaldo was born.
Federico Ubaldo married
Claudia de' Medici in 1621 and was made Duke by his father. However, Federico died in 1623 from an epileptic attack, leaving only a daughter,
Vittoria Della Rovere, wife of
Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; their child was
Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; none of Cosimo III's children had heirs. The aging Francesco Maria took up the title of Duke again, but as there was no more hope for a male heir, he gave his Duchy to
Pope Urban VIII in 1625. The Pope's nephew
Taddeo Barberini took control of the duchy which was annexed to the
Papal States after Francesco's death at
Urbania in 1631. The last member of the della Rovere family, Vittoria, inherited the Duke's art collection and had it transferred to
Florence to the
Uffizi Gallery. ==Marriages==