In 1658, as war between Spain and France began to wind down, a union between the royal families of Spain and France was proposed as a means to secure peace.
However, Spanish procrastination led to a scheme in which France's prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, pretended to seek a marriage for his master with Margaret Yolande of Savoy.
Margaret Yolande's mother, the French born Christine Marie started communicating with France in order to secure a marriage between her daughter and the young Louis XIV of France, first cousin of Margaret Yolande.
Negotiations with France and Savoy went as far as Louis XIV and Margaret Yolande meeting at Lyon on the French royal family leaving Paris on October 26, 1658. The French entourage included the Dowager Queen, Louis XIV, Philippe d'Anjou, la Grande Mademoiselle and Marie Mancini. The French were impressed by her appearance despite saying her skin was too tanned. They also said she was a quiet girl.
When Philip IV of Spain heard of this meeting at Lyon between the Houses of France and Savoy in November 1658, he reputedly exclaimed of the Franco-Savoyard union that "it cannot be, and will not be". Philip then sent a special envoy to the French court to open negotiations for peace and a royal marriage.
Prior to the proposed Franco-Savoyard match, Antoine Pimentel marquis de Tábara, Spanish ambassador had had secret talks with Cardinal Mazarin which later led the French to say to the Savoyard's "...the Savoyard marriage is not for the King of France, Philip IV King of Spain proposes his daughter, the Infanta Maria Teresa who has all the qualities of being the wife of Louis XIV..."
The match, great for Savoy, was never to be; Louis XIV married Maria Teresa.