Null HENRIETTE-MARIE DE FRANCE. Autograph letter signed "Henriette Marie R" to t…
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HENRIETTE-MARIE DE FRANCE. Autograph letter signed "Henriette Marie R" to the prioress of the Visitation de Chaillot monastery, [Hélène-Angélique Lhuillier]. S.l., "ce jeudy a 2 heures aprésmidy" [1652, according to an old note in ink by another hand]. One p. 2/3 in-4. Letter written during the Fronde, when the Court had gone into exile in the provinces and armed struggles were taking place under the walls of Paris, which was in the throes of violent unrest: in July 1652, the armies approached the hill of Chaillot where the Visitation monastery, which Henriette-Marie de France had just founded in 1651, was located. "My mother, I have seen the letter that you have written... ABOUT THE ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO LEAVE: I BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE ALARM A BIT QUICKLY. I am going to my brother [Gaston d'Orléans] in a hurry and I will go to him if he thinks you are in any danger, or else I will give you the answer myself, or I will send it to you. Nevertheless, I leave it to you to decide what you think you should do, since I can judge better than I can where your advice comes from, and also because I would be inconsistent if anything happened to you through my advice, and things are so changeable from one day to the next that it is impossible to judge. I hope that God will orate you in His holy protection, I assure you that these are the wishes, my Mother, of your very good and affectionate friend Henriette Marie R[egina]" WIFE OF CHARLES I OF ENGLAND, Henriette-Marie de France (1609-1669) was a daughter of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, and thus a sister of Louis XIII and Gaston d'Orléans. In 1625, she was given in marriage to King Charles I of England, and, if their union was at first misunderstood, the two spouses then agreed closely after the death of the Duke of Buckingham: the king stopped the persecution of English Catholics that Henrietta-Maris defended, and she supported him in his fight against Parliament, going so far as to sell his jewels. As the political situation became untenable, she went into exile in France in 1643 and had the pain of learning of her husband's execution in 1649. Among their children were the kings of England Charles II (with whom she stayed twice after the Restoration of 1660) and James II, as well as Henriette-Anne who married the Duke of Orleans. Henriette-Marie died in France, and Bossuet gave her funeral oration.

HENRIETTE-MARIE DE FRANCE. Autograph letter signed "Henriette Marie R" to the prioress of the Visitation de Chaillot monastery, [Hélène-Angélique Lhuillier]. S.l., "ce jeudy a 2 heures aprésmidy" [1652, according to an old note in ink by another hand]. One p. 2/3 in-4. Letter written during the Fronde, when the Court had gone into exile in the provinces and armed struggles were taking place under the walls of Paris, which was in the throes of violent unrest: in July 1652, the armies approached the hill of Chaillot where the Visitation monastery, which Henriette-Marie de France had just founded in 1651, was located. "My mother, I have seen the letter that you have written... ABOUT THE ADVICE YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO LEAVE: I BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE ALARM A BIT QUICKLY. I am going to my brother [Gaston d'Orléans] in a hurry and I will go to him if he thinks you are in any danger, or else I will give you the answer myself, or I will send it to you. Nevertheless, I leave it to you to decide what you think you should do, since I can judge better than I can where your advice comes from, and also because I would be inconsistent if anything happened to you through my advice, and things are so changeable from one day to the next that it is impossible to judge. I hope that God will orate you in His holy protection, I assure you that these are the wishes, my Mother, of your very good and affectionate friend Henriette Marie R[egina]" WIFE OF CHARLES I OF ENGLAND, Henriette-Marie de France (1609-1669) was a daughter of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, and thus a sister of Louis XIII and Gaston d'Orléans. In 1625, she was given in marriage to King Charles I of England, and, if their union was at first misunderstood, the two spouses then agreed closely after the death of the Duke of Buckingham: the king stopped the persecution of English Catholics that Henrietta-Maris defended, and she supported him in his fight against Parliament, going so far as to sell his jewels. As the political situation became untenable, she went into exile in France in 1643 and had the pain of learning of her husband's execution in 1649. Among their children were the kings of England Charles II (with whom she stayed twice after the Restoration of 1660) and James II, as well as Henriette-Anne who married the Duke of Orleans. Henriette-Marie died in France, and Bossuet gave her funeral oration.

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