One of the most shocking events in English History was when Charles I the King of England
made his way to the executioner’s scaffold in London on a cold January morning. Charles
was the man who lost the English Civil War and he found himself accused of treason against
his own people. When the axe swung and took the King’s head clean off in one swift blow,
the crowd there sighed and many believed they had executed a man who had been sent by God
to rule over them. However he left behind a number of children, and before his death
he had spoken to a couple of them, and heartbreakingly he warned his son not to take the throne.
Charles I met his bloody death and execution with decorum and dignity, but what about the
children he left behind? What happened to them? His youngest daughter was Henrietta
Anne, but what was the story of this tragic princess who died at just the age of 26?
Henrietta was born on the 16th June 1644 on the eve of the Second Battle of Newbury, which
resulted in the deaths of thousands between the Royalists and Parliamentarians during
the Civil War. She was born at Bedford House in Exeter, at the seat of the 5th Earl of
Bedford, who had backed her father in the Civil War. Her father was of course Charles
I and her mother was the youngest daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Medici,
Henrietta Maria.Throughout her life she was very close with her mother the Queen, and
she was also connected to the French royal family. But before her birth, her mother had
been forced out of Oxford and had to remain at Exeter despite being heavily pregnant,
and many believed that she would not survive the birth due to her poor state of health
and the stress of the civil war.
The Queen had a particularly difficult birth with Princess Henrietta, and she was then
placed into the care of the Countess of Morton, and the Queen then made her way to Falmouth
and returned to France to ask the French King to help her husband Charles I in the civil
war. What was shocking was that Henrietta’s mother the Queen was living dangerously giving
birth to the princess, but then Princess Henrietta got sick herself. Her daughter was moved to
Falmouth, and then she suffered with convulsions but she recovered despite only being a few
weeks old when this happened. On the 26th July aged around 6 weeks old she met her father
Charles I for the first time, and he ordered before that she should be baptised and was
at Exeter cathedral on the 21st July. A canopy of state carried her into the ceremony as
she was a princess, and she was then moved to Oatlands Palace outside of London, and
she lived there for three months before she was moved yet again. But in June 1646, Princess
Henrietta was moved to France and she was reunited with her mother.
She then lived at the French Court, and she was given the name Anne to honour her aunt
the French Queen, but when she arrived she was known as the Princess of England. Along
with her mother they lived at the Louvre and were given a lavish and huge monthly allowance,
living comfortably in a chateau. But as time went on, all of the money Henrietta Maria
got she sent to her husband to help with the English Civil War, but issues would also arise
in France. Back home things were getting very tough for the Princess’ father, and he lost
the English Civil War. Charles I was then placed on trial by Cromwell and Parliament,
and he was accused of being a traitor against his own people, however no-one could have
expected what happened to her father. Charles I was sentenced to death and was then brought
to Whitehall and on the scaffold next to the Banqueting House, an executioner took his
head off in one clean swing. The executioner with his axe took the King’s life, and then
he showed the King’s head silently to the crowd. With this Princess Henrietta lost her
father, England lost their King, but Henrietta’s mother learned of the execution in the following
month, and then the two moved to the Palais Royal with the King, and his mother and brother.
But then Henrietta Maria had Princess Henrietta baptised as a catholic, against her father’s
wishes. But at the time in France there was talks about Princess Henrietta marrying the
French King, but this was rejected. It was whilst in France that the Princess learned
about the restoration of the monarchy in England with Henrietta’s brother Charles II taking
the throne.
But Princess Henrietta would be married to Philippe the Duke of Orleans. (Pronounced
Or Leon) He proposed to her but there were many rumours that he was homosexual, and there
had been a number of other men who had proposed to Henrietta, but nothing came of these. Philippe
was eager to marry Henrietta quickly, but her mother wanted to go back to England and
around his time her brother the Duke of Gloucester died of smallpox. She travelled back to England
and stayed at Dover Castle, and the French court officially asked for Henrietta’s hand
in marriage for Philippe on the 22nd November 1640, and her dowry was arranged. It was a
sizeable one, and she then returned to France, but her sister Mary had died of smallpox also.
The marriage contract was signed in the following March and they then married the day after,
and it’s believed things began well in their marriage. A year after Henrietta have birth
to a daughter, and some at court did doubt who the father was, as Henrietta may have
had an affair early in her marriage. They had another child who was a son who became
the Duke of Valois, but in 1666 he died of convulsions, and the death of this child upset
Henrietta greatly. She then had a stillborn daughter in July 1665 and another daughter
in 1669 that was named Anne Marie.
Henrietta was considered a cultured and likeable princess who loved gardening and collecting
art, but some historians believe that she may have some suffered from anorexia. But
her mother died in Late 1669 after taking too many opiates as a painkiller, and Henrietta
was gutted and heartbroken, but her husband then rushed to claim her possessions before
she had been buried. But Henrietta played a pivotal part in diplomacy between England
and France. She was close with Charles II the English King, and Henrietta was eager
to visit England she against her husband’s wishes she travelled to England and arrived
in Dover on the 26th May 1670. The Secret Treaty of Dover was signed, but Henrietta
then went back to France after a few weeks back home. However in 1667, she began to complain
of sharp pains in her side. But then a few years later she suffered from severe digestive
problems that led to her only being able to drink milk. It was said that after returning
to England she went to her Husband’s side, and when she drank some water she felt a sharp
pain and cried out, ‘Ah what a pain, what shall I do, I must be poisoned.’ She assumed
she had been poisoned, and asked for an antidote, and she was given some treatments and anti
poisons. The royal family then arrived, however at 2 o’clock in the morning of the 30th
June 1670, she died. There were many rumours of poisoning, and who could have done it.
17 French and 2 English physicians and the English ambassadors around with 100 onlookers
watched her autopsy, and the official report stated she died from ‘death from cholera
morbid, gastroenteritis, caused by heated bile. But others disagreed, and some believed
she had been poisoned. But some experts believed she died from peritonitis from a ruptured
ulcer, and not poison.
Henrietta was buried at the Basilica of St Denis, and her funeral was a large occasion.
It was said that, ‘"Last of all came the members of Monsieur and Madame's household,
bearing torches in their hands. A mausoleum, surrounded with altars and silver urns, and
adorned with a crowd of mourning allegorical statues, among which Youth, Poetry and Music
were conspicuous, had been erected in the centre of the choir. There the coffin rested,
covered with cloth of gold, edged with ermine, and embroidered with the arms of France and
England in gold and silver. Everyone having taken their places, hundreds of candles burst
into flame giving a cloud of incense; and the Archbishop of Reims assisted by other
bishops, began the Mass, which was chanted by the King's musicians organised by Lully.’
Princess Henrietta the youngest daughter of Charles I was only 26 when she died in France,
and she had lived a life which was tragic. Her father was executed when she was young,
and her mother also passed away. However she managed to bring together France and England,
and in the same month she died under rather suspicious circumstances, and interestingly
her eldest daughter Marie Louise would die at the age of 26 also in Spain in 1689. She
too died under almost indentical circumstances, and many led to believe she was also poisoned.
But Princess Henrietta’s life was incredibly tragic and rather shortlived.
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