The exact place and date of birth of Beatrix of Bourbon are not known. The daughter of the French duke Louis I of Bourbon and Marie of Hainaut was probably born around 1314. The noble family stayed at the French court. It was here that John I of Luxembourg, also known as John the Blind, Count of Luxembourg and King of Bohemia, who had been widowed for several years, met the young princess Beatrix in 1334. The age difference of 25 years was not an obstacle to the engagement, which took place at the Château de Vincennes.
During the first two years of the marriage, Beatrix lived in Luxembourg and the province of Hainaut. In 1336, she joined her husband in Prague. Her arrival was not well received by the Czech nobility. Not only was the marriage celebrated abroad, but also without the knowledge of the Bohemian nobility. Even if Beatrix made the gesture of naming her only child after the Bohemian patron Wenceslas, the nobility remained hostile. Fifteen days after the coronation, on 1 June 1337, John the Blind sent Beatrix back to Luxembourg under escort, keeping her newborn child in Prague in the care of a wet nurse. It seems that the new queen never returned to the kingdom.
She lived at Damvillers Castle in the county of Luxembourg and looked after her son's education after the death of John the Blind in the battle of Crecy in 1346.
In 1365, Beatrix married Eudes de Grancey for the second time. Even after her second marriage, she continues to bear the title of Queen of Bohemia and Countess of Luxembourg. She died on 25 December 1383 and was buried in Paris.
Sources:
● J.-P. Kinsch: Beatrix of Bourbon, in: Hémecht, Jahrgang 32, pp.343-365.
● J.-P. Kinsch: Beatrix of Bourbon, in: Hémecht Jahrgang 33, pp.65-93.
● http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_von_Bourbon