Henrietta Anne Stuart (June 16, 1644 - June 30, 1670) was the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and Queen Henrietta Maria of France. She was born at Bedford House, Exeter. Two weeks after she was born, her mother the Queen, fled the country, leaving Henrietta 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.

She married Philippe duc d'Orléans, the only brother of Louis XIV, King of France, at Chapel Palais Royal, in Paris on March 31, 1661. With her marriage, she became known to France as Madame and was the second most powerful woman in the country. Although her husband was very much in love with Henrietta-Anne when they married, he quickly grew bored with her, and she with him. There is some evidence that Henrietta-Anne had an affair with her brother in law, Louis XIV, and it is possible that her eldest daughter, Marie Louise d'Orléans was Louis's child, not Philippe's.

Henrietta-Anne is best known through her correspondence with her brother King Charles II of England. 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 Palace of Saint-Cloud, near Paris on June 30, 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 her husband’s jealous lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine. An autopsy was performed, and it was determined that Henrietta-Anne had died of peritonitis caused by a perforated ulcer.

Her children were:

• Marie Louise d'Orléans (March 27, 1662 - February 12, 1689). On November 18, 1679, she married Charles II of Spain.
• Philippe Charles, Duke d'Valois (July 16, 1664 - December 8, 1666)
• Anna Maria d'Orléans (August 27, 1669 - August 26, 1728). On April 10, 1684 she married Victor Amadeus II of Savoy.
• She also had two miscarriages and gave birth to a stillborn daughter.

External link

• Ancestors of Philippe d'Orleans