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Henrietta Maria of France

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Henrietta Maria
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(born Nov. 25, 1609, Paris, France — died Sept. 10, 1669, Château de Colombes, near Paris) French-born English queen, wife of Charles I and mother of Charles II and James II. The daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Médicis, she was no stranger to political intrigue. By openly practicing Roman Catholicism at court, she alienated many of Charles's subjects. As the English Civil Wars approached, she sought without success to instigate a military coup to overthrow the Parliamentarians. Her further efforts to enlist support for Charles from the pope, the French, and the Dutch infuriated many Englishmen. Deterioration of the Royalist position caused her to flee to France in 1644, and she never again saw her husband, who was executed in 1649.

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British History: Henrietta Maria
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Henrietta Maria (1609-69), queen of Charles I. Charles married Henrietta Maria, youngest daughter of Henri IV of France, in May 1625 after his Spanish marriage plans had come to naught. She was aged 15, small and vivacious, with dark curly hair, large brown eyes, and protruding teeth. Her husband was rather solemn and there was a very sharp quarrel in 1626 when he sent all her servants packing. But her relations with her husband became close, particularly after the death of Buckingham in 1628. The 1630s she looked backon as halcyon days but increasingly Charles's political troubles darkened their lives. She fled to Holland in February 1642 with the crown jewels to raise men and money. Returning in July 1643 she joined Charles at Oxford. Heavily pregnant, she fled once more in 1644, giving birth to her youngest daughter at Exeter in June en route for France. She never saw her husband again. During the Cromwellian years she remained in France, returning to England at the Restoration in 1660. She left England for good in 1665.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Henrietta Maria
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Henrietta Maria (mərī'ə), 1609-69, queen consort of Charles I of England, daughter of Henry IV of France. She married Charles in 1625. Although she was devoted and loyal to her husband, her Roman Catholic faith made her suspect in England. By her negotiations with the pope, with foreign powers, and with English army officers, she added to the suspicions against Charles that helped to precipitate (1642) the English civil war. After 1644 she lived in France, making continual efforts to secure foreign aid for her husband until his execution in 1649. She returned (1660) to England after the Restoration, but resumed living in France in 1665. Her influence may have affected the religious beliefs of her sons Charles II and James II, although she herself was unsuccessful in her attempts to convert them to Catholicism.

Bibliography

See biography by E. Hamilton (1976); study by Q. Bone (1972).

Wikipedia: Henrietta Maria of France
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This article is about the Queen. For the slave ship, see Henrietta Marie.
Henrietta Maria of France
Henriette Marie by Anthony van Dyck
Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland
Tenure 13 June 1625 – 30 January 1649
Spouse Charles I of England and Scotland
Issue
Charles II
Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
James II of England & VII of Scotland
Princess Elizabeth
Princess Anne
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
Princess Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans
House House of Stuart
House of Bourbon
Father Henry IV of France
Mother Marie de' Medici
Born 25 November 1609(1609-11-25)
Palais du Louvre, Paris, France
Died 10 September 1669 (aged 59)
Château de Colombes, Paris, France
Burial Royal Basilica of Saint Denis,

Henrietta Maria of France (French: Henriette Marie de France); (25 November[1] 1609 – 10 September 1669) was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I.

She was the mother of two kings, Charles II and James II, and was grandmother to Mary II, William III, and Anne of Great Britain.

Contents

Biography

Henrietta Maria was a revered beauty all of her life, as well as an ardent Roman Catholic.

Henrietta Maria was the daughter of King Henry IV of France (Henry III of Navarre) and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. She was born at the Palais du Louvre on 25 November 1609, but some historians give her a birthdate of 26 November. In England, where the Julian calendar was still in use, her date of birth is often recorded as 16 November. Henrietta Maria was brought up as a Roman Catholic. As the daughter of the Bourbon king of France, she was a Fille de France and a member of the House of Bourbon. She was the youngest sister of the future King Louis XIII of France. Her father was assassinated on 14 May 1610, in Paris, before she was a year old; her mother was banished from the royal court in 1617.

After her older sister Christine Marie married Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy, in 1619, Henriette Marie took on the highly prestigious style of Madame Royale; this style was used by the most senior royal princess at the French court.

Marriage

She first met her future husband in Paris, in 1623, while he was travelling to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to arrange his marriage with the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain. Charles' trip to Spain ended badly, however, as King Philip III of Spain demanded that he convert to Roman Catholicism and remain in Spain for a year after the wedding as a sort of hostage to ensure England's compliance with all the terms of the treaty. Charles was outraged, and upon their return to England in October, he and Buckingham demanded that King James declare war on Spain.

Searching elsewhere for a bride, Charles looked to France where the attractive Henriette Marie lived at the court of her brother and was still unmarried by 1625. However, her religion 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.

They were married in person at St. Augustine's Church, Canterbury, Kent, on 13 June 1625, but her Roman Catholic religion made it impossible for her to be crowned with her husband in an Anglican service.

Initially their relationship was rather frigid and argumentative. Henrietta Maria had brought a large and expensive retinue with her from France, all of them Roman Catholic. It is said that eventually Charles sent them home to France, only allowing his teenage bride to retain her chaplain and confessor, Robert Phillip, 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 recalcitrant queen away.[citation needed]

Henrietta Maria took an immediate dislike to Buckingham, the former King's favourite. However, after Buckingham's death in August 1628, her relationship with her husband improved and the two finally forged deep bonds of love and affection. Her refusal to give up her Catholic faith alienated her from many of the English 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. He also did not share his father's sexual ambivalence.

English Civil War activities

Henrietta Maria increasingly took part in national affairs as the country moved towards open conflict through the 1630s. She despised Puritan courtiers and sought a coup to pre-empt the Parliamentarians[citation needed]. As civil 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 mass 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 on the continent where 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.

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. After her son's restoration, she travelled to England where Pepys, on 22 November 1660, met her and described her as a 'very little plain old woman, and nothing more in her presence in any respect nor garb than any ordinary woman'.

Her financial problems were resolved by a generous pension. She founded a convent at Chaillot, where she settled.

In 1661, she saw her youngest daughter Henrietta Anne[2] marry the Duke of Orléans, only sibling of Louis XIV; that marriage made Henrietta Maria the maternal line great-grandmother of Louis XV of France and as such, an ancestor of the present-day Juan Carlos I of Spain, as well as the Duke of Parma and reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

In August 1669, she saw the birth of her grand daughter Anne Marie d'Orléans; Anne Marie was the maternal grand mother of Louis XV making Henrietta Maria an ancestor of most of today's royal families.

Henrietta Maria died at the château de Colombes[3][4], near Paris, and was buried in the French royal necropolis at the Basilica of St Denis. As a member of the French royal family, her son-in-law, the Duke of Orléans, was also buried there in 1701.

Commemoration

The U.S. state of Maryland was named in her honour by her husband, Charles I. George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore submitted a draft charter for the colony with the name left blank, suggesting that Charles bestow a name in his own honor. Charles, having already honored himself and several family members in other colonial names, decided to honor his wife. The specific name given in the charter was "Terra Mariae, anglice, Maryland". The English name was preferred over the Latin due in part to the undesired association of "Mariae" with the Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana.[5] Cape Henrietta Maria, at the western meeting of James Bay and Hudson Bay in Northern Ontario, is also named for her.

The slave ship Henrietta Marie (which carried slaves to what is now the United States and sank 35 miles off the coast of Key West after selling 190 slaves to Jamaica in 1701) was also named after Henrietta Maria.

Ancestors

Ancestors of Henriette Marie of France[6]

Issue

Name Birth Death Notes
Charles James, Duke of Cornwall 13 March 1629 13 March 1629 Stillborn
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 1641. 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 Stillborn; buried Westminster Abbey.
Henry, Duke of Gloucester 8 July 1640 18 September 1660 Died unmarried; no issue. Buried Westminster Abbey
Henrietta Anne, Princess of England 16 June 1644 30 June 1670 Married Philippe de France, Duke of Orléans (1640–1701) in 1661; had issue

See also descendants of Henrietta Maria de France, 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.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Arms of Henrietta Maria of France[7]
  • 25 November 1609 – 13 June 1625 Her Highness Princess Henriette Marie of France[8]
  • 13 June 1625 – 30 January 1649 Her Majesty the Queen
  • 30 January 1649 – 10 September 1669 Her Majesty the Queen Mother

References

  1. ^ Burke's Peerage and Gentry
  2. ^ named after the French Queen Anne of Austria
  3. ^ The château de Colombes was demolished in 1846.
  4. ^ http://apce.levillage.org/COLOMBES-LA-REINE-HENRIETTE.html (Frecnh)
  5. ^ Stewart, George R. (1967) [1945]. Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States (Sentry edition (3rd) ed.). Houghton Mifflin. pp. 42–43. 
  6. ^ Robert Knecht, Renaissance France, genealogies; Baumgartner, genealogicl tables.
  7. ^ Maclagan, Michael; Louda, Jiří (1999), Line of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, London: Little, Brown & Co, pp. 27, ISBN 0-85605-469-1 
  8. ^ In France prior c.1630 the style of Royal Highness did not exist as it does today; it was her brother Gaston de France who introduced the style but it did not take precedence till some time after the marriage of Henriette Marie

External links

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Henrietta Maria of France
Cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty
Born: 25 November 1609 Died: 10 September 1669
British royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Anne of Denmark		 Queen consort of England
Queen consort of Ireland
Queen consort of Scots
13 June 1625 – 13 January 1649		 Vacant
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Catherine of Braganza


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English Royal Consorts
George of Denmark (1702–1707) · Mary of Modena (1685–1688) · Catherine of Braganza (1662–1685) · Henrietta Maria of France (1625–1649) · Anne of Denmark (1603–1619) ·Philip II of Spain (1554-1558) · (Lord Guilford Dudley?) (1553) · Catherine Parr (1543–1547) · Catherine Howard (1540–1542) · Anne of Cleves (1540) · Jane Seymour (1536–1537) · Anne Boleyn (1533–1536) · Catherine of Aragon (1509–1533) · Elizabeth of York (1486–1503) · Anne Neville (1483–1485) · Elizabeth Woodville (1464–1483) · Margaret of Anjou (1445–1471) · Catherine of Valois (1420–1422) · Joanna of Navarre (1403–1413) · Isabella of Valois (1396–1399) · Anne of Bohemia (1383–1394) · Philippa of Hainault (1328–1369) · Isabella of France (1308–1327) · Margaret of France (1299–1307) · Eleanor of Castile (1272–1290) · Eleanor of Provence (1236–1272) · Isabella of Angoulême (1200–1216) · Berengaria of Navarre (1191–1199) · Eleanor of Aquitaine (1154–1189) · Matilda I of Boulogne (1135–1152) · (Geoffrey V of Anjou?) (1141) · Adeliza of Louvain (1121–1135) · Matilda of Scotland (1100–1118) · Matilda of Flanders (1066–1083)
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Scottish Royal Consorts
Elizabeth de Burgh (1306–1327) · Joan of The Tower (1329–1362) · Margaret Drummond (1364–1369) · Euphemia de Ross (1371–1386) · Anabella Drummond (1390–1401) · Joan Beaufort (1424–1437) · Mary of Guelders (1449–1460) · Margaret of Denmark (1469–1486) · Margaret Tudor (1503–1513) · Madeleine of Valois (1537) · Mary of Guise (1538–1542) · Francis II of France (1558–1560) · Henry, Duke of Albany (1565–1567) · James, Duke of Orkney (1567) · Anne of Denmark (1589–1619) · Henrietta Maria of France (1625–1649) · Catherine of Braganza (1662–1685) · Mary of Modena (1685–1688) · George, Duke of Cumberland (1702–1707)

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