Henrietta Anne Stuart

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Henrietta Anne
Duchess of Orléans
Portrait by Pierre Mignard
Portrait by Pierre Mignard
Spouse Philip I, Duke of Orléans
Issue
Marie Louise
Anne Marie
Titles and styles
The Duchess of Orléans
Princess Henrietta Anne of England
Princess Henrietta of England
Royal house House of Bourbon
House of Stuart
Father Charles I of England
Mother Henrietta Maria of France
Born 16 June 1644
Flag of England Bedford House, Exeter
Died 30 June 1670 (aged 26)
Flag of France Palace of Saint-Cloud, Paris

Princess Henrietta Anne of England (born Henrietta; later Duchess of Orléans; 16 June 1644 – 30 June 1670), in French Henriette d'Angleterre, sometimes 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.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Princess Henrietta was born at Bedford House, Exeter, at a time when the English Civil War was raging across the land. Two weeks after Henriette's birth, her mother, the Queen, fled the country leaving her in the care of Lady Villiers. 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 Henrietta's father Charles I was beheaded in 1649 and a republic was proclaimed in England, Henrietta's mother made her home at the French court, nominally presided over by her minor nephew, Louis XIV. Henrietta thus grew up at the French court.

[edit] Duchesse d'Orléans

At the age of 17, Princess Henrietta married her first cousin, Philip I, Duke of Orléans, who was the younger son of her maternal uncle Louis XIII and the only brother of Louis XIV, then King of France. The wedding was held at the Chapel Palais Royal in Paris on 31 March 1661. The marriage was unhappy, and her husband preferred the affections of his gentlemen, who vied with Henrietta for power. Rumoured to have had an affair with her brother-in-law, she used her influence with Louis XIV to have her husband's favourite banished, marking the decline of the fortunes of the Duke's gentlemen, who, according to a contemporary account, hatched a plot to eliminate her.

[edit] Louis XIV

Louis XIV was very close to his sister-in-law. In fact it was believed at the time that Louis was the real father of Henrietta's two daughters. Louis' mourning of her after her tragic death was even greater than that of Philippe, her husband, lending credence to that theory. However, Philippe was extremely jealous of his wife, possibly abusive, and paraded a succession of male lovers before her.

All of Louis XIV's mistresses (Louise de la Valliere and Athenais de Montespan) were originally ladies-in-waiting to the household of Henrietta. In fact Henrietta encouraged the king's dalliance with Louise to silence the gossip about her and Louis. [1]

[edit] Later life

Today, she 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.

Henrietta Anne as a child, by van Dyck
Henrietta Anne as a child, by van Dyck

She died at the Palace of 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.[2]

[edit] Ancestors

Henrietta Anne Stuart's ancestors in three generations
Henrietta Anne Stuart Father:
Charles I of England		 Paternal Grandfather:
James I of England		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Mary I of Scotland
Paternal Grandmother:
Anne of Denmark		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Frederick II of Denmark
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mother:
Henrietta Maria of France		 Maternal Grandfather:
Henry IV of France		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Antoine of Bourbon
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Jeanne III of Navarre
Maternal Grandmother:
Marie de' Medici		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Francesco I de' Medici
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Johanna of Austria

[edit] Issue

In addition to the below births, she had four miscarriages (1663, 1666, 1667, 1668).[3]

Name Birth Death Notes
Marie Louise 27 March 1662 12 February 1689 Married Charles II of Spain.
Philip Charles, Duke of Valois 16 July 1664 8 December 1666
Stillborn daughter 9 July 1665 Some sources say she died shortly after birth.
Anne Marie of Orléans 27 August 1669 26 August 1728 Married Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia; had issue – grandmother of Louis XV of France

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hartmann, Cyril Hughes (1954). The King, my brother. London: William Heinemann.  OCLC: 2292261 ASIN: B000GBX3JS
  2. ^ Robinson, James. "The History of Gastric Surgery" Chapter 20, page 239. The History of Gastroenterology.
  3. ^ Royal Genealogy, Information on Stuart, Henrietta Anne

[edit] External links

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