Henrietta Anne Stuart

Death of Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of England, Scotland, and Ireland

.

Henrietta was born on 16th June 1644, her father was King Charles I of England and her mother was Henrietta Maria of France.

All her life, Henrietta had a close relationship with her mother, who was the daughter of French King Henry IV and Marie de' Medici.

Her connections with the French court as niece of Louis XIII, proved very useful later in life.

For Queen Henrietta's safety during the civil war, she made her to France, here she would ask Louis XIV to assist her husband's war efforts.

In June 1646, Henrietta joined her mother in France, and while living at the French court, Henrietta was given the name Anne in honour of her aunt, the French queen Anne of Austria.

Henrietta and her mother were given apartments at the Louvre, and a monthly pension of 30,000 livres.

This lavish existence soon diminished, as all the money Queen Henrietta Maria received, was given to her husband in England or to exiled cavaliers, who had fled to France.

In February 1649, Henrietta's mother was informed of the execution of her husband, who had been b~headed on 30th January.

Queen Henrietta Maria and Henrietta Anne, were moved into the Palais Royal, with the young Louis XIV and his mother and brother Philippe.

Queen Henrietta Maria hinted at the idea of a union between her daughter Henrietta and Louis, but Queen Anne rejected the idea, preferring instead her niece, Maria Theresa of Spain.

Queen Anne turned her attention to her unmarried son Philippe, and decided Henrietta would be an excellent choice.

Flamboyant Philippe, a reputed homosexual, who had been party to a series of sexual scandals, proposed to Henrietta.

Henrietta and Philippe signed their marriage contract at the Palais Royal on 30th March 1661, the ceremony took place the next day.

The marriage started well, and Philippe seems to have been a doting husband.

A year into the marriage, Henrietta gave birth to a daughter, Marie~Louise.

The couple's next child was a son born in July 1664, Philippe Charles~Duke of Valois.

Sadly, he died in 1666 of Convulsions.

The loss of the little Duke affected Henrietta greatly.

She gave birth to a stillborn daughter in July 1665, but another daughter Anne Marie, was born in 1669.

From 1667 onwards, Henrietta would frequently complain of intermittent, intense pain in her side.

By April 1670, she began having digestive problems so severe, that she could consume only milk.

On 29th June, at five o'clock, Henrietta drank a glass of iced chicory water.

Immediately after drinking the water, she felt a pain in her side and cried out,

"Ah! What a pain! What shall I do! I must be poisoned!"

At 2 o'clock in the morning of 30th June 1670, Henrietta died, she was just 26 years old.

Despite the suspicions surrounding her death, the expert consensus since the 20th century is that she died of peritonitis from a ruptured ulcer, not poison.

Henrietta was interred at the Basilica of St Denis on 4th July 1670.

Henrietta's eldest daughter, Marie Louise died, like her mother, at age 26 in Spain in 1689.

The circumstances of her death were almost identical to those of her mother's, and she was also believed to have been poisoned.

Her youngest daughter, Anne Marie, married in 1684 and was the mother of eight children, the eldest of whom, Marie Adélaïde, was the mother of Louis XV.

.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_of_England

.

https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

.

Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans - Goodwood House.

Created: 17th century~ Peter Lely.