Henrietta Anne Stuart

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Henrietta Anne of England
duchesse d'Orléans
Portrait by Pierre Mignard
Portrait by Pierre Mignard
Spouse Philippe de France, duc d'Orléans
Issue
Marie Louise
Anne Marie
Titles and styles
The Duchess of Orléans
Henrietta Anne of England
Henrietta of England
Royal house 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 Château de Saint-Cloud, France

Henrietta Anne of England, duchesse d'Orléans (born Henrietta 16 June (Old Style) 26 June (New Style) 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. After her marriage to Philippe d'Orléans, she became known as Madame at court. Her husband was known as Monsieur.

Contents

[edit] Life

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, her mother took her to live at the French court, where her nephew was King Louis XIV.

[edit] France

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. 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.

Louis XIV was very close to his sister-in-law, and the two were possibly lovers.[citation needed] Louis' mourning of her after her tragic 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, more virile, 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][citation needed]

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][citation needed] This caused all sorts of arguments at the Palais Royal, where the Orléans lived.

[edit] Children

Scottish and English Royalty
House of Stuart
James VI & I
   Henry, Prince of Wales
   Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia
   Charles I
   Robert, Duke of Kintyre
Charles I
   Charles II
   James II & VII
   Henry, Duke of Gloucester
   Mary, Princess Royal
   Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans
   Princess Elizabeth of England
Charles II
Illegitimate sons included
   James Scott, Duke of Monmouth
   Charles FitzRoy, Duke of Cleveland and Southampton
   Henry FitzRoy, Duke of Grafton
   George FitzRoy, Duke of Northumberland
   Charles Beauclerk, Duke of St Albans
   Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond and Lennox
James II & VII
   Mary II
   Anne
   James Francis Edward Stuart
Grandchildren
   Charles Edward Stuart
   Henry Benedict Stuart
Mary II & William III
William III
Anne

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:

Not unusually for the era, Henriette had four miscarriages 1663, 1666, 1667, 1668.[5]

By the time of the birth of Anne Marie in 1669, the couple was notorious for their constant arguing at court and at home in the Palais Royal.[6] Philippe now had a new lover, and many were aware of the great influence this man had over Philippe.

Philippe de France, her husband

Marie Louise, Queen Consort of Spain

Anne Marie, Queen consort of Sardinia and Sicily

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:

Philip of Lorraine-Armagnac 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.[7]

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 chateau 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.

[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.

She 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.[8] At her funeral, the well-known orator Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet conducted her eulogy, the famous Oraison funèbre d'Henriette d'Angleterre.

[edit] Ancestors

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  1. ^ Hartmann, Cyril Hughes (1954). The King, my brother. London: William Heinemann.  OCLC: 2292261 ASIN: B000GBX3JS
  2. ^ Brother to the Sun king:Philippe, Duke of Orléans by Nancy Nicholas Barker
  3. ^ http://nygaard.howards.net/files/4/4031.htm Title of Valois
  4. ^ http://nygaard.howards.net/files/4/4031.htm Date of birth
  5. ^ Royal Genealogy, Information on Stuart, Henrietta Anne
  6. ^ Brother to the Sun king:Philippe, Duke of Orléans by Nancy Nicholas Barker
  7. ^ Van der Cruysse, Dirk (1988). Madame Palatine, Princesse Européenne (in French). Fayard, page 165. ISBN 2213022003. “Philippe de Lorraine-Armagnac était de trois ans le cadet de Philippe d'Orléans. Séduisant, brutal et dénué de scrupules, il fut le grand amour de la vie de Monsieur. Il fut aussi le pire ennemi des deux épouses de celui-ci...Rapace comme un vautour, ce cadet de la branche française de la maison de Lorraine avait mis dès la fin des années 1650 le grappin sur Monsieur comme on harponne une baleine. Le jeune prince l'aimait avec une fougue qui inquiétait Madame Henriette et Cosnac, mais qui fit comprendre au Roi que, grâce à la figure charmante et la tête bien organisée du joli chevalier, il aurait barre sur son frère.” 
  8. ^ Robinson, James. "The History of Gastric Surgery" Chapter 20, page 239. The History of Gastroenterology.

[edit] Titles

Henrietta Anne Stuart
Born: 26 June 1644 Died: 30 June 1670
British royalty
Preceded by
N/A		 Princess of England
1644–1661		 Succeeded by
N/A
French royalty
Preceded by
Marguerite de Lorraine		 duchesse d'Orléans
1661–1670		 Succeeded by
Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz