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'Henrietta Maria' (
25 November 1609 –
10 September 1669), was Princess of France and
Queen Consort of
England,
Scotland and
Ireland (
13 June 1625 –
30 January 1649) through her marriage to
Charles I. She was the mother of two kings,
Charles II and
James II, and was grandmother to both
William and Mary and
Queen Anne.
Early life
Born as 'Henriette-Marie de France', Princess of France, she was the youngest daughter of
Henry IV of France and
Maria de Medici and the sister of the future
Louis XIII of France. and had 7 other siblings. Her father was killed before she was a year old; her mother was banished from the royal court in
1617.
She was born at the
Louvre Palace and brought up as a
Roman Catholic. This made her an unpopular choice of wife for the English King, whom she married by
proxy on
11 May 1625, shortly after his accession to the throne.
Marriage
They were married in person at
St. Augustine's Church,
Canterbury, Kent, on
13 June 1625. However, her religion made it impossible for her to be crowned with her husband in an
Anglican service. Initially their relationship was cold. Henrietta Maria had brought many servants with her from France, all of them
Roman Catholic, and all costing the King a lot of money to maintain. It is said that eventually Charles sent this retinue home, only allowing his teenage bride to retain her
chaplain and two ladies in waiting. Finding her sadly watching the retinue depart for France at the window of a palace, Charles angrily and forcibly dragged his wayward
queen away. Charles had intended to marry
Maria Anna, a daughter of
Philip III of Spain, but a mission to Spain in 1623 had failed. Perhaps this earlier disappointment explains why relations with his French bride were strained; every time the couple met, they started arguing and would separate, not seeing each other for weeks. When next they met, again they had to separate, because they could not stop arguing.
Henrietta Maria took an immediate dislike to
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the King's favourite. However, after Buckingham was murdered by
John Felton in August
1628, her relationship with the King improved and they finally forged deep bonds of love and affection. Her refusal to give up her Catholic faith alienated her from many of the people and certain powerful courtiers such as
William Laud,
Archbishop of Canterbury and
Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Charles, on the other hand, had definite leanings towards Catholicism, and, once he had reached maturity, did not share his father's sexual ambivalence.
Ancestors
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|
| Charles James, Duke of Cornwall | 13 March 1629 | 13 March 1629 | Died young. No issue. |
| Charles II | 29 May 1630 | 6 February 1685 | Married Catherine of Braganza (1638 - 1705) in 1663. No legitimate issue. |
| Mary, Princess Royal | 4 November 1631 | 24 December 1660 | Married William II, Prince of Orange (1626 - 1650) in 1648. Had issue. |
| James II, King of England | 14 October 1633 | 16 September 1701 | Married (1) Anne Hyde (1637 - 1671) in 1659; had issue
(2) Mary of Modena (1658 - 1718) in 1673; had issue |
| Elizabeth, Princess of England | 29 December 1635 | 8 September 1650 | Died young; no issue. Buried Newport, Isle of Wight |
| Anne, Princess of England | 17 March 1637 | 8 December 1640 | Died young; no issue. Buried Westminster Abbey |
| Catherine, Princess of England | 29 January 1639 | 29 January 1639 | Died young; no issue. Buried Westminster Abbey. |
| Henry, Duke of Gloucester | 8 July 1640 | 18 September 1660 | No issue. Buried Westminster Abbey |
| Henrietta Anne, Princess of England | 16 June 1644 | 30 June 1670 | Married Philip I, Duke of Orléans (1640 - 1701) in 1661; had issue |
See also ''
descendants of Henrietta Maria de Bourbon'', which maps how the
Medici became part of the European Royal families, eventually leading to
Prince William of Wales, future King of the United Kingdom.
English Civil War activities
Henrietta Maria in the 1630s
Henrietta Maria increasingly took part in national affairs as the country moved towards open conflict through the
1630s. She despised
Puritan courtiers to deflect a diplomatic approach to Spain and sought a coup to pre-empt the Parliamentarians. As
war approached she was active in seeking funds and support for her husband, but her concentration on Catholic sources like
Pope Urban VIII and the French angered many in England and hindered Charles' efforts. She was also sympathetic to her fellow
Catholics and even gave a
requiem in her private
chapel at
Somerset House for Father
Richard Blount, S.J. upon his death in
1638.
In August
1642, when the conflict began, she was in
Europe. She continued to raise money for the Royalist cause, and did not return to England until early
1643. She landed at
Bridlington in
Yorkshire with troops and arms, and joined the Royalist forces in northern England, making her headquarters at
York. She remained with the army in the north for some months before rejoining the King at
Oxford. The collapse of the king's position following Scottish intervention on the side of Parliament, and his refusal to accept stringent terms for a settlement led her to flee to France with her sons in July
1644. Charles was executed in
1649, leaving her almost destitute.
Widow
She settled in Paris, appointing as her chancellor the eccentric Sir
Kenelm Digby. She angered both Royalists in exile and her eldest son by attempting to convert her youngest son, Henry, to Catholicism. She returned to England following the
Restoration in October 1660 and lived as 'Dowager Queen' and 'Queen Mother' at
Somerset House in London until 1665 when she returned permanently to France. Her financial problems were resolved by a generous pension. She founded a covent at Chaillot, where she settled.
Henrietta Maria died at Château de Colombes, and was buried in the royal tombs at
Saint Denis Basilica near
Paris.
Commemoration
The
U.S. state of
Maryland (in
Latin, "Terra Mariae") was so named in her honour by
Cæcilius Calvert, son of
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore[1]. Cape Henrietta Maria, at the western meeting of
James Bay and
Hudson Bay in
Northern Ontario, is also named for her.
A less pleasant commemoration of her was the naming of the
slave ship "
Henrietta Marie", one of the many that carried
slaves to what is now the United States. In 1701 she sank 35 miles off the coast of
Key West after selling 190 slaves to
Jamaica.
External links
★ A short profile of her alongside other influential women of her age: http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/womeninpower/Womeninpower1600.htm
★
British Civil Wars Page Biography
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