Gian Gastone de' Medici (Giovanni Battista Gastone; May 24, 1671 – July 9, 1737) is the seventh and last Medicean Grand Duke of Tuscany.
He is the second son of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, Princess of France.
His sister, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the Electress Palatine, marries him to Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, a wealthy widow, in 1697.
Unfortunately, Gian Gastone despises his new wife, and she, him.
The union produces no offspring.
As Grand Prince Ferdinando, Gian Gastone's elder brother, predeceases Cosimo III, Gian Gastone succeeds his father as Grand Duke in 1723.
His reign is marked by the reversal of his predecessor's ultra-reactionary policy; he abolishes taxes for poorer people, repeales the anti-Jewish penal laws and discontinues public executions.The Medici are wanting in male heirs; his father, Cosimo III, had wanted the Electress Palatine to succeed Gian Gastone.
However, Spain, Great Britain, Austria and the Dutch Republic disregard Cosimo's plan and appoint Don Carlos of Spain—whose mother, Elisabeth Farnese, is a great-granddaughter of Margherita de' Medici—Gian Gastone's heir.
Don Carlos later transfers his claim to Francis III of Lorraine pursuant to a preliminary peace that is finalized in 1738.
[4] Francis duly succeeds at Gian Gastone's demise, on 9 July 1737, ending almost 300 years of Medici rule over Florence.
For the latter part of his reign, Gian Gastone chooses to remain confined in his bed, tended by his entourage, the Ruspanti.
