Henrietta Maria of France
1609 – 1669 · Generation XXVI · Queen consort
Henrietta Maria of France (1609–1669). Queen consort. Married Charles I Stuart in 1625. 3 of their children are recorded in this archive. The youngest daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de’ Medici, she came to England at fifteen, and her Catholic faith kept her from ever being crowned. The marriage began coldly — Charles expelled her French household in 1626 — but after Buckingham’s assassination in 1628 the pair grew deeply devoted. She patronised Van Dyck and Orazio Gentileschi, performed in court masques and opened an ornate Catholic chapel at Somerset House, feeding Protestant hostility. As war neared she went to The Hague in 1642 to raise money on the crown jewels, landed under bombardment at Bridlington in 1643, and was impeached by Parliament. Hunted by Parliament’s army, she fled from Falmouth to France in 1644, leaving her newborn daughter behind; she never saw Charles again. His execution left her impoverished. She returned to England after the Restoration, settled again in Paris in 1665, and gave her name to Maryland.
Place in the family
- Henrietta Maria of France married King Charles I, a great-great-great-nephew of King Henry VIII.
- The archive records 7 of her descendants, across 2 generations.
Partners
- Married King Charles I (1600 – 1649) in 1625 — 3 children together
Children
- King Charles II (1630 – 1685)
- Mary Princess Royal (1631 – 1660)
- King James II (1633 – 1701)
Life
- 1609 — Born
- 1625 — Married Charles I Stuart
- 1669 — Died