Henrietta Anne of England

Princess Henrietta Anne of England
Duchess of Orléans
Portrait by Pierre Mignard
Spouse	Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans
Detail Issue
Marie Louise, Queen of Spain Anne Marie, Queen of Sardinia
House	House of Stuart
Father	Charles I of England
Mother	Henrietta Maria of France
Born	16 June or 26 June 1644 Bedford House, Exeter
Died	30 June 1670 (aged 26) Château de Saint-Cloud, France

Henrietta Anne of England, Duchess of Orléans (16 June Old Style 26 June New Style 1644 – 30 June 1670), in French Henriette d'Angleterre, known familiarly as Minette, was the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. The Jacobite claims to the throne following the death of Henry Benedict Stuart descend from her.

After her marriage to Monsieur, Philippe de France, brother of king Louis XIV, she became known as Madame at court.

Biography

Henrietta was born at Bedford House, Exeter, at a time when the English Civil War was raging across the land. Two weeks after Henrietta's birth, her mother, the Queen, fled the country leaving her in the care of Lady Morton. Henrietta Anne (the "Anne" was added after she was baptized into the Catholic Church) was not reunited with her mother until she was two years old. After her father, Charles I of England, was beheaded in 1649, and a republic was proclaimed in England, Lady Morton brought her to France to live at the court of her cousin, King Louis XIV.

France

At the age of seventeen, Princess Henrietta married her first cousin, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, who was the younger son of her maternal uncle Louis XIII and the only brother of Louis XIV. The wedding was held at the Palais Royal chapel in Paris on 31 March 1661. By then her brother Charles II had been restored to the thrones of England and Scotland and therefore the marriage was even more politically advantageous. The marriage was unhappy, and her husband preferred the affections of his gentlemen, who vied with Henrietta for power^{[citation needed]}. For this reason, the marriage may have been invalid under canon (and therefore French) law due to a lack of consent on the part of the Duke, and also on the grounds of consanguinity, assuming a valid papal dispensation had not been issued.

Louis XIV was very close to his sister-in-law, and the two may have been lovers^{[citation needed]}. Louis' mourning of her after her death was even greater than that of Philippe, her husband, lending credence to that theory^{[citation needed]}. However, Philippe was extremely jealous of his wife, possibly abusive, and paraded a succession of male lovers before her.

Popular at court, much to Philippe's annoyance, Henriette was known as a pretty, good-natured girl who enjoyed flirting. She soon attracted the attention of her husband's older brother. In order to hide their attraction from the king's mother and wife, Henriette and Louis invented the story that he was constantly in Henriette's company in order to be close to one of her ladies-in-waiting, Louise de La Vallière. Only later did Henriette realize that the ruse had been so successful that Louis had indeed begun an affair with Louise^[1].

Reluctantly and somewhat bitterly, Henriette stepped aside. Later, she seems to have taken one of her husband's earlier conquests, the comte de Guiche, as a lover^[2]. This caused all sorts of arguments at the Palais Royal, the Orléans residence in Paris.

The Chevalier de Lorraine

The favorites of Monsieur, invariably younger, handsome men, would dominate contemporary and historical commentary about his role at court, particularly with one man who shared his princely rank and much of his life:

Philippe de Lorraine was three years younger than Philip of Orléans. Insinuating, brutal and devoid of scruple, he was the great love of the life of Monsieur. He was also the worst enemy of the latter's two wives. As greedy as a vulture, this cadet of the French branch of the House of Lorraine had, by the end of the 1650s, hooked Monsieur like a harpooned whale. The young prince loved him with a passion that worried Madame Henrietta and the court bishop, Cosnac, but it was plain to the King that, thanks to the attractive face and sharp mind of the good-looking cavalier, he would have his way with his brother.^[3]

Under these circumstances, it is no surprise that Monsieur's first marriage was not a happy one. In January 1670, his wife prevailed upon the King to imprison the chevalier, first near Lyon, then in the Mediterranean island-fortress of the Château d'If, and finally he was banished to Rome. But by February Monsieur's protests and pleas persuaded the King to restore him to his brother's entourage.

Later life

Today, Henrietta is best known through her correspondence with her brother King Charles II of England, with whom she was very close. With her brother, she helped to negotiate the Secret Treaty of Dover (1670), which was an offensive and defensive alliance between England and France. When she visited her brother at Dover, she was accompanied by one of her ladies-in-waiting, Louise de Kérouaille. The English king became fascinated with Louise. After Henrietta's death, Louise was appointed by Charles to become a lady-in-waiting to his wife, the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, and became his mistress.

Henrietta died at the Château de Saint-Cloud, near Paris on 30 June 1670, just two weeks after the treaty was signed. At the time of her death, it was widely believed that Henrietta-Anne had been poisoned by friends of her husband’s jealous lover and exiled favourite, the Chevalier de Lorraine. An autopsy was performed, however, and it was reported that Henrietta-Anne had died of peritonitis caused by a perforated ulcer.^[4] At her funeral, the well-known orator Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet conducted her eulogy, the famous Oraison funèbre d'Henriette d'Angleterre. Her widowed husband took Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate as his second wife; she was the daughter of Henrietta's first cousin.

• Her eldest daughter died without issue.
• Through her youngest daughter, Anne Marie d'Orléans, she is a direct ancestor of Louis XV and his descendants, the last Bourbon kings of France before the reign of Louis Philippe, King of the French, a descendant of her husband and his second wife.

Issue

Despite the marital dissension between Monsieur and Madame, several children were born of the union. Some believed at the time that the King was the real father of Henrietta's two daughters^{[citation needed]}:

• Marie Louise d'Orléans (27 March 1662 – 12 February 1689),
  • She was the first wife of Charles II of Spain;
• Philippe Charles, Duke of Valois^[5], ( 16 July 1664 – 8 December 1666);
• A daughter born 9 July 1665 ; died soon after;
• Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669^[6] – 26 August 1728),
  • First wife of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, first King of Sardinia, whom she wed in 1684,
  • ancestress of the Kings of Sardinia and Kings of Italy,
  • through her derives the post-Stuart legitimist claim of the Jacobites to the English and Scottish thrones (though these would be invalid if her parents' marriage was invalid).

Henriette had four miscarriages, in 1663, 1666, 1667, 1668.^[7]

By the time of the birth of Anne Marie, the couple was notorious for their constant arguing at court and at home in the Palais Royal.^[8] Philippe now had a new lover, and many were aware of the great influence this man had over Philippe.

Ancestors

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 16 June, 1644 - 31 March, 1661 Her Royal Highness Princess Henrietta Anne of England
• 31 March, 1661 - 30 June, 1670 Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Orléans
  • 31 March, 1661 - 30 June, 1670 Madame

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Henriette d'Angleterre

v • d • e Scottish Royalty - House of Stewart Robert II John, Earl of Carrick (later King Robert III) | Robert, Duke of Albany | Alexander, Earl of Buchan | David, Earl of Strathearn | Walter, Earl of Atholl Robert III Prince David | Prince James James I Margaret Stewart | Prince James James II Prince James | Alexander, Duke of Albany | John, Earl of Mar James III Prince James | James, Duke of Ross | John, Earl of Mar James IV Prince James | James, Earl of Moray James V Princess Mary | James, Earl of Moray Mary I Prince James James VI Prince Henry | Prince Charles Charles I Prince Charles | Prince James | Prince Henry | Princess Mary| Princess Henrietta | Princess Elizabeth | Princess Anne James VII Princess Mary | Princess Anne | Prince James

Titles

v • d • e Princesses of France by marriage 1st Generation none 2nd Generation Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier**  · Marguerite of Lorraine** 3rd Generation Princess Henrietta Anne of England  · Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate 4th Generation Duchess Maria Anna of Bavaria  · Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Légitimée de France 5th Generation Princess Maria Adelaide of Savoy  · Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans** 6th Generation none 7th Generation Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain  · Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony 8th Generation Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria**  · Princess Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy** · Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy 9th Generation Princess Marie-Thérèse Charlotte of France*** · Princess Carolina Ferdinanda of the Two Sicilies 10th Generation Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria-Este* *also a princess of France in her own right **died without any/surviving issue ***both