Ladies of the House of Stuart

Henrietta Maria of France

In the lone tent, waiting for victory,
She stands with eyes marred by the mists of pain,
Like some wan lily overdrenched with rain:
The clamorous clang of arms, the ensanguined sky,
War's ruin, and the wreck of chivalry
To her proud soul no common fear can bring:
Bravely she tarrieth for her Lord the King,
Her soul a-flame with passionate ecstasy.
~from "Henrietta Maria" by Oscar Wilde

In my room as a teenager there was a print of the Van Dyke portrait of Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, the original of which is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Maryland or Mary's Land was named in honor of the queen of the ill-fated Charles I; the colony was founded as a refuge for Roman Catholics. When exploring the old church yards of Catholic parishes in southern Maryland, the names on the gravestones are English rather than the usual Irish and German. It no doubt pleased the Catholic queen that there was a place where her brethren in the faith could go to escape the persecution in their native land.

The life of Henrietta Maria (1609-1669) was turbulent from the beginning. Half Bourbon and half Medici, her father, the famous Henri IV of France was assassinated when she was an infant. At fifteen years old she was sent to marry Charles Stuart, who was a decade or so older. The royal couple initially did not like each other at all. They quarreled whenever together and so avoided each other for weeks at a time. When they finally did fall in love, theirs became one of the most devoted in the history of royal marriages, and was blessed with seven children.

During the troubles which led to the English Civil War, Henrietta Maria became a liability to Charles because of her religion and her meddling (both perceived and actual). Because the king was seen as being uxorious, the queen was blamed for many of his decisions. During the war, Henrietta and Charles were often separated from each other as he fought and she went abroad to raise money. Once while crossing the channel, her ship was attacked and pursued by Parliamentary forces. She described the experience to Charles:

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.

Henrietta Maria was not able to get back to England to be with her husband during his trial and execution in 1649. Devastated by his death, she never recovered the joie de vivre which had characterized her youth. The queen lived out her days at the French court with her youngest daughter Minette. She did see her son Charles II restored to the English throne, although she thoroughly disapproved of him in practically every way. She died in 1669 and was buried at the Basilica of Saint Denis among her ancestors the kings and queens of France.

Sources:
http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2008/06/henrietta-maria-of-france.html

The King's execution must have been such a terrible shock, and not only to Henrietta Maria but to so many others in England and abroad!

I admire this queen but I do not find her as endearing as Marie-Antoinette. Have you thought of writing novels about Henrietta Maria, too?

Yes, I have.

Elena, I have that portrait as a postcard from NGA too!

A newer dual biography A Royal Passion by Katie Whitaker was published last year--it looks at the royal couple.
For fiction, I've enjoyed Loyal in Love, formerly titled Myself, My Enemy, by Jean Plaidy.

I would love to read both of those novels!

I cannot help but being filled with pity when I think of Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705), the young Portuguese princess who became the bride of the profligate Charles II. She was a stranger in a strange land where she could barely speak the language and where her religion was outlawed. Raised in a convent and in a pious, loving family, Catherine suddenly found herself in the midst of a bawdy and dissolute court, where she was the target for anti-Catholic bigotry. Her greatest misfortune was that she fell in love with her husband during the first halcyon weeks of their marriage. He appeared to be drawn to her as well. After Charles met Catherine he wrote to his sister Minette:

Her face is not so exactly as to be called a beauty, though her eyes are excellent good, and nothing in her face that in the least degree can disgust one. On the contrary, she hath as much agreeableness in her looks as I ever saw, and if I have any skill in physiognomy, which I think I have, she must be as good a woman as ever was born. You will wonder to see how well we are acquainted already; in a word, I think myself very happy, for I am confident our two humours will agree very well together.

How extremely painful it must have been for Catherine to discover that there were other women in her husband's life. How difficult to have to see Charles with Barbara Castlemaine, with whom the king was besotted, and who was carrying his child when he married Catherine. She could not go home, or to a convent or anywhere. She had to stay and learn to live with it.

Catherine was also deprived of motherhood, with three miscarriages. She found consolation in her faith. Although Charles continued to be unfaithful, having children with other women, he respected Catherine's unwavering religious convictions, and defended her whenever she was attacked.

As one article says:

Of course life was not all bleakness and misery for Catherine. Although her difficulties with the language persisted, as time went on the once rigidly formal Portuguese Infanta mellowed and began to enjoy some of the more innocent pleasures of the court. She loved to play cards and shocked devout Protestants by playing on Sundays. She enjoyed dancing and took great delight in organising masques. She had a great love for the countryside and picnics, fishing and archery were also favourite pastimes. In a far cry from her convent-days the newly liberated Catherine displayed a fondness for the recent trend of court ladies wearing men's clothing, which we are told, 'showed off her pretty, neat legs and ankles'; and she was even reported to have considered leading the way in wearing shorter dresses, which would show off her feet. In 1670, on a trip to Audley End with her ladies-in-waiting, the once chronically shy Catherine attended a country fair disguised as a village maiden, but was soon discovered and, due to the large crowds, forced to make a hasty retreat. Although she was never to wield much influence at court the poet Edmund Waller credited her with making tea a fashionable drink amongst courtiers. And when in 1664 her favourite painter, Jacob Huysmans a Dutch Catholic, painted her as St Catherine, it promptly set a trend among court ladies.

Tea had already been introduced to England but Catherine helped to make it popular.

Although [Catherine] adopted English fashions, she continued to prefer the cuisine of her native Portugal - including tea. Soon her taste for tea had caused a fad at the royal court. This then spread to aristocratic circles and then to the wealthier classes. In 1663 the poet and politician Edmund Waller wrote a poem in honour of the queen for her birthday:

Venus her Myrtle, Phoebus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, the best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Regress those vapours which the head invade,
And keep the palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen.

Catherine had the consolation of seeing her husband become a Catholic on his deathbed. After the overthrow of her brother-in-law James II, she returned to Portugal in 1692. She was active in politics, becoming the regent for her brother Peter II in the years before her death in 1705.

She who was often overlooked in life continues to be neglected by historians. According to writer Heidi Murphy:

In contrast to Charles II's mistresses there are precious few biographies devoted to his wife. Little of her private correspondence remains but an examination of those letters that are available show her to have been, in contrast to her public image, a pragmatic and astute woman, keenly aware of the difficulties of her position. Her husband's mistresses caused her endless grief and humiliation, but as her friendship with Monmouth shows she bore no grudges against his numerous children, and to some she proved a kind and loving friend (up until the time of Catherine's death Nell Gwyn's son, the Duke of St Albans, is reported to have received an allowance from her own income).

It was on her return to Portugal amongst people who valued and supported her that she finally flourished. An exploration of her regency reveals her to have been a strong leader, capable and firm, a figure that her once dismissive courtiers would scarcely have recognised. In 1687, with the benefit of hindsight Catherine described her role as Queen of England, as being a sacrifice, 'solely for the advantage of Portugal'. It is fitting then that in contrast to England, where the Merry Monarch and his numerous mistresses continue to capture the imagination, in Portugal the name Catherine of Braganza 'is held in the highest veneration to the present day'.

Sources:
http://teaattrianon.blogspot.com/2008/05/catherine-of-braganza.html

The late British novelist Eleanor Hibbert wrote about the royal Stuart ladies under her Jean Plaidy pseudonym. Once out of print, some of her novels were reissued with new covers. Below are links to summaries from the original editions. All of the titles in both series have been reissued.
For the Stuart family:
http://jeanplaidy.tripod.com/id31.htm
From the "Queens of England" series:
http://jeanplaidy.tripod.com/id40.htm

Please note a few titles have changed--here they are below:
Queens of England
Henrietta Maria: Loyal in Love, formerly Myself, My Enemy
Catherine de Braganza: The Merry Monarch's Wife, formerly The Pleasures of Love
Mary II: The Queen's Devotion, formerly William's Wife

Stuarts
Mary and Anne: Royal Sisters, formerly The Haunted Sisters
Queen Anne: Courting Her Highness, formerly The Queen's Favorites

Since I'm a Jean Plaidy fan, I was excited to see some of her novels reissued. Some I'd read before, others were 1st time reads. Hope this short list helps!

I am so glad that they're being reissued!

 
Old thread coming up...

A portrait of a young Elizabeth Stuart later Queen of Bohemia is featured on Madame Guillotine blog:
http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2013/08/19/portrait-of-the-week-elizabeth-stuart-queen-of-bohemia/
Thanks to Elena for posting this on her blog today!  

In fiction, I've seen Elizabeth Stuart as a widow and exiled Queen of Bohemia.  If you're interested reading about her as a young girl, Elizabeth appears in Murder in the Tower by Jean Plaidy.  In The King's Daughter by Christie Dickason, Elizabeth is the narrator of the novel, starting at the Gunpowder Plot until she becomes a newlywed departing England.

I am delighted that you revived this thread! Here is Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen:

A profile of Princess Mary Stuart, eldest daughter of Charles I and Henrietta Maria:
http://madameguillotine.org.uk/2014/11/04/princess-mary-stuart/
She was the first to be designated Princess Royal.  In fiction, the Princess Mary has a small role in Loyal in Love (previously published as Myself, My Enemy) by Jean Plaidy.