Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France (*25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was the daughter of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici. She was married to King Charles I and the mother of Charles II and James II. This also made her the grandmother of Mary II, William III, and Anne of Great Britain.

Her marriage with Charles I of England in May 1625 was rather unpopular with the British, as well as with the Pope, because Henrietta was a Roman Catholic. It was the first time that a Protestant Prince married a Catholic Princess. The political motive behind this marriage was to form an alliance between France and England against Spain.

During the English Civil War, she tried to help her husband in funding the war. In 1642 when the war started, she was in Europe and returned to England in 1643. When Charles I lost his power, she fled to France in 1644, taking her sons with her. After the execution of her husband, she moved to Paris and did not return to England until the Restoration in 1660. She then lived as “Queen Mother” in London for five years, until she permanently returned to live in France in 1665.

In 1669 she died and was buried in the royal tombs at Saint Denis Basilica near Paris.

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