Henrietta
Maria, the youngest child of Henri IV of France, was born in 1609.
After the assassination of her father in 1610 Henrietta Maria was
brought up by her mother, Marie de Medicis.
In
1625 she married Charles I. As
she was a Roman Catholic, this marriage was not very popular with
the English people. The Puritans were particularly unhappy when they
heard that the king had promised that Henrietta Maria would be allowed
to practise her religion freely and would have the responsibility
for the upbringing of their children until they reached the age of
13.
The couple had six children,
Charles
(1630-1685), Mary (1631-1660),
James
(1633-1701), Elizabeth (1635-1680),
Henry (1640-1660) and Henrietta (1644-1670).
In 1642 Henrietta
Maria fled to Holland
where she raised funds for the Royalist army. She returned briefly
in 1644 but left for France when it became clear that the Parliamentary
army was winning the Civil War.
Henrietta
Maria visited England
twice during the reign of her son, Charles
II . Henrietta
Maria died in 1669.
(1)
Sophia of Bavaria met Henrietta Maria for the first time in 1641.
Later she wrote a letter to a friend about the Queen.
I was surprised to find that the Queen, who looked so fine
in the Van Dyck painting, was a small woman... with long skinny arms
and teeth like defence works projecting from her mouth.
(2)
During the Civil
War Henrietta Maria
went
to Holland to raise funds for the royalist army. On her journey back
her ship was chased by four Parliamentary ships. On 23 February, 1643,
she wrote a letter to Charles
I about her experiences.
All day we unloaded our
ammunition... The cannon balls whistled over me; and as you can imagine
I did not like the music... I went on foot some distance from the
village, and got shelter in a ditch. But before I could reach it the
balls sang merrily over our heads and a sergeant was killed twenty
paces from me. Under this shelter we remained two hours, the bullets
flying over us, and sometimes covering us with earth... by land and
sea I have been in some danger, but God has preserved me.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
