In+the+end...

On her grave, she is laid next to the body of her second husband, Henry, and is shown with a book in her hands, representing her strong-mindedness and her wise decision-making ability. Possibly one of her wisest acts was to travel to Spain to chose and collect her thirteen year old grand daughter Blanche of Castile to become the bride of Louis VIII of France, the grandson of her first husband Louis VII! Blanche eventually proved a rival to Eleanor in political influence and success as queen of France. Eleanor also, when almost seventy, rode over the Pyrenees to collect her candidate to be Richard's wife. The nuns that she had lived with at the end of her life, in Frontevrault wrote in their necrology said,"She was beautiful and just, imposing and modest, humble and elegant.' She died at 1 April 1204.