Biography of Queen Henrietta Maria » Biographies » Queen Henrietta Maria Queen Henrietta Maria, 1609-69 Loyal, courageous and devoted to King Charles I, but her influence added to the atmosphere of mistrust that surrounded the King. Henrietta Maria was born in Paris on 26 November 1609 (NS), the youngest daughter of King Henri IV of France and Marie de Medici. She was taught riding, dancing and singing and received religious instruction from the Carmelite nuns. Her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales, required a special dispensation from the Pope because it was the first time that a Catholic princess had married a Protestant prince. Politically, it was a move towards an alliance between France and England against Spain. The marriage took place in May 1625 when Henrietta was 15 and Charles was 24. Her Catholicism alarmed the English Parliament, and she was not allowed to be crowned alongside her husband when he succeeded to the throne of the Three Kingdoms as King Charles I in February 1626.

Catholic Queen Consort Apart from their religious differences, the royal couple were opposites in character and temperament: Charles was sober and aloof, Henrietta was stylish and vivacious. During the first three years of their marriage, Charles was influenced by his overbearing favourite the Duke of Buckingham , and neglected Henrietta Maria almost to the point of estrangement. But when Buckingham was assassinated in 1628, Charles transferred his affections to the Queen, and they quickly became devoted to one another. During the 1630s, the court of King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria was admired throughout Europe. The King's impeccable taste in art and the formality of court ritual gave an appearance of sophistication; the Queen's encouragement of dancing, music and theatre added warmth and polite gaiety. Elaborate masques were staged by Inigo Jones and Ben Jonson to dramatise the ideals of the Stuart monarchy. To the horror of many Puritans, the Queen herself sometimes took part in the performances. Increasingly, King Charles discussed affairs of state with Henrietta Maria.

He valued her opinions and advice, but because she remained a practising Roman Catholic, her influence was viewed with extreme suspicion, particularly as several prominent courtiers converted to Catholicism and a papal representative was received in England for the first time since the Reformation. When the King needed money to finance the Bishops' Wars (1639-40), the Queen raised funds by appealing to English Catholics. Her further appeals to the Vatican itself fuelled Protestant fears of a Popish conspiracy against England. She was even suspected of inciting the Irish Uprising of 1641. Rumours that members of the Long Parliament were planning to impeach the Queen prompted King Charles to make his disastrous attempt to arrest the Five Members in January 1642. “She-Majesty, Generalissima” In February 1642, when civil war looked inevitable, Henrietta Maria left England for the Netherlands—the King galloping along the cliff tops to keep her ship in sight until the last sail had vanished below the horizon. She spent almost a year in The Hague, raising loans, buying weapons and recruiting troops for the Royalist cause.

By selling or pawning jewels, she raised a large fortune which financed several convoys of weapons and ammunition and a company of veteran professional soldiers to fight for the King. Braving storms and attack by Parliament's warships, she returned to England in February 1643, landing at Bridlington in Yorkshire. Henrietta stayed with the Earl (later Marquis) of Newcastle at York. She participated in Newcastle's secret negotiations with the Parliamentarian commanders Sir Hugh Cholmley at Scarborough and Sir John Hotham at Hull. Persuaded by the Queen, Cholmley defected and delivered Scarborough Castle to the Royalists. By the summer of 1643, Royalist victories in the Midlands made it relatively safe for Henrietta to move south at the head of her army, styling herself "Her She-Majesty, Generalissima". On 13 July 1643, she was reunited with the King, who had chosen the site of the battlefield of Edgehill as a suitably dramatic rendezvous. They made a triumphal entry into Oxford the following day. The Queen remained at Oxford until 1644.

She attempted to arrange a marriage between the Prince of Wales and the daughter of the Prince of Orange in the hope that the Dutch would intervene in the war against Parliament. When she became pregnant with her ninth child, she decided to withdraw to Bath for her confinement and parted from King Charles at Abingdon on 17 April 1644—the last time they would see one another. The Earl of Essex was marching into the West Country and forced the Queen to withdraw further west to Exeter, where she gave birth to a daughter on 16 June. Fearing that Essex intended to take her hostage, she took ship from Falmouth on 14 July 1644 and escaped to France. Granted a small allowance by the French government, Henrietta Maria established households at the palace of St Germain and the Louvre. She kept up an intimate correspondence with King Charles in England, doing her best to persuade him to be more flexible in negotiations after his military defeat in 1645, and tirelessly engaging in schemes and intrigues to gain foreign help for the Royalist cause.

Dowager Queen Mother Henrietta Maria - History Learning Site Henrietta Maria Citation: C N Trueman "Henrietta Maria" historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016. Henrietta Maria was the wife of Charles I. Henrietta Maria was born in France on November 25th, 1609. Her father was Henry IV and she was the sister of Louis XIII. Henry IV was killed shortly before Henrietta Maria’s first birthday. Henrietta Maria was brought up and educated as a Roman Catholic. News that Charles was going to marry a Roman Catholic did not go down well in England, Wales and Scotland. However, the marriage went ahead. Both were married by proxy on May 11th, 1625 while they married in person on June 13th, 1626 at St. Augustine’s Church in Canterbury. However, the coronation service of Charles was an Anglican one and as a result Henrietta Maria could not be crowned as queen. The marriage was a re-bound from the failure of the ill-fated Spanish Match.

Both barely knew one another when they did marry and both were the victims of the way royal marriages were carried out then – more out of a duty than for any other reason. The marriage was considered the best way to bring France and England closer together and whereas Charles may have had some say in who he married, Henrietta Maria probably had very little. When Henrietta Maria arrived in England she brought with her many servants – all of who spoke French and were Roman Catholics. Not only did the retinue cost a lot of money to maintain, they acted as a barrier between Charles and his wife. Charles ordered back to France most of her retinue. Henrietta Maria was only allowed to keep her chaplain and two ladies-in-waiting. As Charles found it initially difficult to develop a relationship with his wife, he turned more and more to the Duke of Buckingham, one of the favourites of his father, James I. Henrietta Maria did not get on with Buckingham but it was Buckingham’s murder that resulted in a much closer relationship between king and queen consort. Charles cared little that she was a Roman Catholic despite the misgivings of some of his advisors.

After the murder of Buckingham, Henrietta Maria became more involved in the day-to-day running of affairs. This was bound to cause friction on a number of levels. She was not a Protestant in a nation that had the Church of England as its state religion. Henrietta Maria was a foreigner who some believed was meddling in the affairs of the nation. She was also a woman in a society that was dominated at the highest levels by men. Any one of these caused problems but when all three were combined, they were to become a major issue for Charles. The fact that Henrietta Maria primarily tried to raise finance for Charles from Catholic sources in the lead up to the civil war actually turned away those who might have supported Charles. When the English Civil War began in 1642, Henrietta Maria was in Europe. She returned to England in 1643 when she landed in Yorkshire with troops. Henrietta Maria joined up with Royalist forces in the north and made her headquarters in York. She moved to Oxford to be with Charles but fled to France in July 1644 when the position of Charles and his forces looked bleak. Here she remained with her sons.

Henrietta Maria visited England twice during the reign of her son Charles II. She died on September 10th, 1669. Henrietta Maria, Queen of England (1609-1666) Search HENRIETTA MARIA, Queen of Charles I of England, born on the 25th of November 1609, was the daughter of Henry IV of France. When the first serious overtures for her hand were made on behalf of Charles, Prince of Wales, in the spring of 1624, she was little more than fourteen years of age. Her brother, Louis XIII, only consented to the marriage on the condition that the English Roman Catholics were relieved from the operation of the penal laws. When therefore she set out for her new home in June 1625, she had already pledged the husband to whom she had been married by proxy on the 1st of May to a course of action which was certain to bring unpopularity on him as well as upon herself. That husband was now King of England. The early years of the married life of Charles I were most unhappy. He soon found an excuse for breaking his promise to relieve the English Catholics.

His young wife was deeply offended by treatment which she naturally regarded as unhandsome. The favourite, Buckingham , stirred the flames of his master's discontent. Charles in vain strove to reduce her to tame submission. After the assassination of Buckingham in 1628, the barrier between the married pair was broken down, and the bond of affection which from that moment united them was never loosened. The children of the marriage were Charles II (b. 1630), Mary, Princess of Orange (b. 1631), James II (b. 1633), Elizabeth (b. 1636), Henry, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1640), and Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans (b. 1644). For some years Henrietta Maria's chief interests lay in her young family, and in the amusements of a gay and brilliant court. She loved to be present at dramatic entertainments, and her participation in the private rehearsals of the Shepherd's Pastoral, written by her favourite Walter Montague, probably drew down upon her the savage attack of Prynne. With political matters she hardly meddled as yet.

Even her co-religionists found little aid from her till the summer of 1637. She had then recently opened a diplomatic communication with the see of Rome. She appointed an agent to reside at Rome, and a papal agent, a Scotsman named George Conn, accredited to her, was soon engaged in effecting conversions amongst the English gentry and nobility. Henrietta Maria was well pleased to become a patroness of so holy a work, especially as she was not asked to take any personal trouble in the matter. Protestant England took alarm at the proceedings of a Queen who associated herself so closely with the doings of "the grim wolf with privy paw." When the Scottish troubles broke out, she raised money from her fellow-Catholics to support the king's army on the borders in 1639. During the session of the Short Parliament in the spring of 1640, the queen urged the king to oppose himself to the House of Commons in defence of the Catholics. When the Long Parliament met, the Catholics were believed to be the authors and agents of every arbitrary scheme which was supposed to have entered into the plans of Strafford or Laud .

Before the Long Parliament had sat for two months, the queen was urging upon the pope the duty of lending money to enable her to restore her husband's authority. She threw herself heart and soul into the schemes for rescuing Strafford and coercing the parliament. The army plot, the scheme for using Scotland against England, and the attempt upon the five members were the fruits of her political activity. In the next year the queen effected her passage to the Continent. In February 1643 she landed at Burlington Quay, placed herself at the head of a force of loyalists, and marched through England to join the King near Oxford. After little more than a year's residence there, on the 3rd of April 1644, she left her husband, to see his face no more. Henrietta Maria found a refuge in France. Richelieu was dead, and Anne of Austria was compassionate. As long as her husband was alive the Queen never ceased to encourage him to resistance. During her exile in France she had much to suffer. Her husband's execution in 1649 was a terrible blow.

She brought up her youngest child Henrietta in her own faith, but her efforts to induce her youngest son, the Duke of Gloucester, to take the same course only produced discomfort in the exiled family. The story of her marriage with her attached servant Lord Jermyn needs more confirmation than it has yet received to be accepted, but all the information which has reached us of her relations with her children points to the estrangement which had grown up between them. When after the Restoration she returned to England, she found that she had no place in the new world. She received from parliament a grant of £30,000 a year in compensation for the loss of her dower-lands, and the King added a similar sum as a pension from himself. In January 1661 she returned to France to be present at the marriage of her daughter Henrietta to the Duke of Orleans. In July 1662 she set out again for England, and took up her residence once more at Somerset House. Her health failed her, and on the 24th of June 1665, she departed in search of the clearer air of her native country.

She died on the 31st of August 1666, at Colombes, not far from Paris. Excerpted from: Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed. Vol XIII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. 273. Other Local Resources: Henrietta Maria | queen consort of England | Britannica.com queen consort of England Henry Wilmot, 1st earl of Rochester Henrietta Maria, French Henriette-Marie (born Nov. 25, 1609, Paris —died Sept. 10, 1669, Château de Colombes , near Paris), French wife of King Charles I of England and mother of Kings Charles II and James II . By openly practicing Roman Catholicism at court, she alienated many of Charles’s subjects, but during the first part of the English Civil Wars she displayed courage and determination in mustering support for the king’s cause. Henrietta Maria, detail of an oil painting after Sir Anthony Van Dyck; in the National Portrait … Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London Henrietta Maria was the daughter of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Médicis .

Throughout her childhood she was surrounded by political intrigue; her father was assassinated six months after her birth, and when she was seven her mother was banished from Paris. In 1625, at the age of 15, she was married to Charles. At first the insolence with which she was treated by Charles’s favourite, George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham, severely strained her relationship with the king, but after the assassination of Buckingham (August 1628) Charles fell in love with his wife. She was a patron of drama and generally presided over a lively court. As the Civil War approached, Henrietta Maria began to meddle in politics. She sought without success to instigate a military coup to overthrow the Parliamentarians, and her efforts to enlist support for the king from the pope, the French, and the Dutch infuriated many Englishmen. When war broke out in August 1642, she was in the Netherlands raising funds for her husband. She landed at Bridlington, Yorkshire, in February 1643 and set about reinvigorating the Royalist cause in northern England.

Deterioration of the Royalist position caused her to flee to France in July 1644, and she never again saw her husband, who was executed after a trial ordered by Parliament in 1649. In Paris she settled for a time in the Louvre and later in the Palais Royal, but she played little further part in politics. An attempt to convert her youngest son, Henry, duke of Gloucester, to Roman Catholicism alienated her from her eldest son, Prince Charles (the future Charles II). She founded a convent at Chaillot where she spent much time. After the Restoration she visited England (October 1660) and was granted a pension of £60,000 a year. She paid two further visits to England but was not comfortable there and finally returned to France in 1665.

Learn More in these related articles: Queen Henrietta Maria, Wife of King Charles I | Henrietta Ma… | Flickr Lisby By: Lisby Queen Henrietta Maria, Wife of King Charles I Henrietta Maria of France, Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (25 November[1] 1609 – 10 September 1669) was the consort of Charles I. She was the mother of two kings, Charles II and James II, and was grandmother to Mary II, William III, and Anne of Great Britain. Henriette-Marie de France was born the daughter of the King of France and Navarre, Henry IV; her mother was the Italian Marie de Medici and was the second consort of Henry IV. As the daughter of the king, she was a Fille de France. She was the youngest sister of the future King Louis XIII of France. Her father was killed before she was under a year old in Paris on 14 May 1610; her mother was banished from the royal court in 1617. From birth she was a member of the House of Bourbon, Maison de Bourbon in French.

She was born at the Palais du Louvre on 25 November 1609, but some historians give her a birthdate of 26 November. In England, where the Julian calendar was still in use, her date of birth is often recorded as 16 November. Henrietta Maria was brought up as a Roman Catholic. After her older sister Christine Marie of France married the Sovereign Duke of Savoy in 1619, Henriette Marie took on the highly prestigious style of Madame Royale; this style was used by the most senior royal princess at the French court. She first met her future husband while he was travelling to Spain to arrange a marriage with the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain; Charles met Henriette Marie in Paris en route. The trip however ended badly as the Spanish King Philip III demanded that Charles convert to Roman Catholicism and remain in Spain for a year after the wedding as a sort of hostage to ensure England's compliance with all the terms of the treaty. Charles was outraged, and upon their return in October, he and Buckingham demanded that King James declare war on Spain. Charles then looked elsewhere for a bride.

He looked to France where the attractive Henriette Marie lived at the court of her brother and was still unmarried by 1625. This made her an unpopular choice of wife for the English King Charles I of England, whom she married by proxy on 11 May 1625, shortly after his accession to the throne. They were married in person at St. Augustine's Church, Canterbury, Kent, on 13 June 1625. However, her religion made it impossible for her to be crowned with her husband in an Anglican service. Initially their relationship was rather frigid. Henrietta Maria had brought a large and expensive retinue with her from France, all of them Roman Catholic. It is said that eventually Charles sent them home to France, only allowing his teenage bride to retain her chaplain and confessor, Robert Phillip, and two ladies in waiting. Finding her sadly watching the retinue depart for France at the window of a palace, Charles angrily and forcibly dragged his wayward queen away.[citation needed] Charles had intended to marry Maria Anna, a daughter of Philip III of Spain, but a mission to Spain in 1623 had failed.

Perhaps this earlier disappointment explains why relations with his French bride were strained; every time the couple met, they started arguing and would separate, not seeing each other for weeks. When next they met, again they had to separate, because they could not stop arguing. Henrietta Maria took an immediate dislike to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, the King's favourite. However, after Buckingham's death in August 1628, her relationship with her husband, Charles I, improved and they finally forged deep bonds of love and affection. Her refusal to give up her Catholic faith alienated her from many of the people and certain powerful courtiers such as William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Charles, on the other hand, had definite leanings towards Catholicism, and, once he had reached maturity, did not share his father's sexual ambivalence. Henrietta Maria increasingly took part in national affairs as the country moved towards open conflict through the 1630s. She despised Puritan courtiers to deflect a diplomatic approach to Spain and sought a coup to pre-empt the Parliamentarians.

As war approached she was active in seeking funds and support for her husband, but her concentration on Catholic sources like Pope Urban VIII and the French angered many in England and hindered Charles' efforts. She was also sympathetic to her fellow Catholics and even gave a requiem in her private chapel at Somerset House for Father Richard Blount, S.J. upon his death in 1638. In August 1642, when the conflict began, she was in Europe. She continued to raise money for the Royalist cause, and did not return to England until early 1643. She landed at Bridlington in Yorkshire with troops and arms, and joined the Royalist forces in northern England, making her headquarters at York. She remained with the army in the north for some months before rejoining the King at Oxford. The collapse of the king's position following Scottish intervention on the side of Parliament, and his refusal to accept stringent terms for a settlement led her to flee to France with her sons in July 1644. Charles was executed in 1649, leaving her almost destitute. She settled in Paris, appointing as her chancellor the eccentric Sir Kenelm Digby.

She angered both Royalists in exile and her eldest son by attempting to convert her youngest son, Henry, to Catholicism. She returned to England following the Restoration in October 1660 and lived as 'Dowager Queen' and 'Queen Mother' at Somerset House in London until 1665 when she returned permanently to France. After her son's restoration she returned to England where Pepys, on 22 November 1660, met her and described her as a 'very little plain old woman, and nothing more in her presence in any respect nor garb than any ordinary woman'. Her financial problems were resolved by a generous pension. She founded a convent at Chaillot, where she settled. In 1661 she saw her youngest daughter Henrietta Anne[2] marry the Duke of Orléans, only sibling of Louis XIV; that marriage made Henrietta Maria the maternal line great grand mother of Louis XV of France and as such, a descendant of the present Juan Carlos I of Spain, as well as the Duke of Parma and reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Henrietta Maria died at Château de Colombes, and was buried in the royal tombs at Royal Basilica of Saint Denis near Paris. Her son in law the Duke of Orléans was buried there in 1701. Done Exploring Maryland's Roots: Library: Charles I (1600-1649) and Henrietta Maria (1609-1669) Charles I, King of England (1600-1649) and Henrietta Maria, Queen of England (1609-1669) King Charles I was the English king who signed the Charter of Maryland, making Maryland a colony. King Charles I reigned in England from 1625 to 1649. He was the second member of the Stuart family to rule England and Scotland jointly. King Charles knew that George Calvert had been a wise secretary of state for the king's father, James I. Charles I signed the Charter of Maryland in 1635, making George Calvert and his heirs Proprietors of Maryland. But George Calvert died before the Charter was ready to be signed.

George's son, Cecil Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore, recieved the province of Maryland from King Charles I. During his reign, Charles I made certain that Cecil Calvert could maintain control of his colony. However, the English Civil Wars between Parliament and Charles I, left the possession of the Maryland Province in question. To learn more about history during King Charles I's reign, see his page from History of the Monarchy, on the Official Website of the British Monarchy . Maryland got its name from Henrietta Maria. She was the daughter of King Henry IV of France and Marie de Médici of Italy. In 1625, Henrietta Maria married King Charles I and became Queen of England. King Charles I's choice to make Henrietta Maria his wife was controversial because she and her family were Roman Catholics rather than members of the Church of England. Queen Henrietta Maria was unpopular with many English people and members of Parliament because she assisted English Catholics like the Calverts. The Calverts chose to name their new province in North American, Mary-land, (�Terra Mariae�) in the queen's honor. Henrietta Maria's life was difficult due to the English Civil Wars that occurred during her husband's reign.

She had to flee England while her husband was on trial for treason against his nation. She went to the Netherlands to raise money and soldiers to support King Charles I. In 1649, King Charles I was executed by Parliament. Henrietta Maria went home to France and entered a convent. She returned briefly to England in 1660, to see her eldest son crowned King Charles II. Another son, King James II ruled from 1685 to 1688. Henrietta Maria died in Paris at the age of 51 in 1669. LINKED DOCUMENTS OR IMAGES: King Charles I's biography from a British perspective, in History of the Monarchy section, Official Website of the British Monarchy. The Charter of Maryland , SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Huntingfield Corporation Collection) "A Relation of the Successefull beginnings of the Lord Baltemore's Plantation in Mary-land: The Charter of Maryland, 1635." MSA SC 1399-526 also titled: "A Relation of Successfull beginnings of the Lord Baltimore's Plantation in Mary-land," (1635).

Click here to view The Charter online at Museum Without Walls, online exhibit of the Maryland State Archives, October 23, 2002. "Maryland named for Queen Henritta Maria ," Maryland State Archives, May 29, 2002. Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England, oil painting by the Studio of Anthony Van Dyck, 1632. Courtesy of Commission on Artistic Property, Maryland State Archives, MSA SC 1545-1100. © 2017 Maryland Public Television. All Rights Reserved. King Charles I King Charles I References Charles, the third child and second son of James I and Anne of Denmark , was born in Dunfermline Palace on 19th November, 1600. His brother, Henry , was six years old when he was born. He was created Duke of Albany at his baptism and Duke of York five years later. (1) Charles was a weak and backward child and remained in Scotland while the rest of the family moved to London . Charles went to live with Alexander Seton , Lord Fyvie, who had nine surviving daughters and a son.

In April 1604, Fyvie wrote to the king pointing out that his son was "weak in body" and was having difficulty talking . (2) It was believed that Charles suffered from rickets and he had difficulty walking without assistance. His doctor stated "he was so weak in his joints and especially ankles, insomuch as many feared they were out of joint". (3) Even so It was now decided that he was strong enough to make the journey to England to be reunited with his family. (4) After the death of his older brother, Henry, in 1612, Charles was given the title of Prince of Wales and became the heir to the throne. He was educated by a Scottish Presbyterian tutor, and mastered Latin and Greek and showed an aptitude for modern languages. Charles was a shy and reserved boy who never overcame a stammer. (5) King James came under the influence of Henry Howard , 1st Earl of Northampton, Thomas Howard , Earl of Arundel and Charles Howard , Lord of Effingham, who were all sympathetic to the Roman Catholic church. He suggested that Charles should marry Maria Anna , the youngest daughter of King Philip III of Spain.

According to John Philipps Kenyon , the author of The Stuarts (1958): "They urged James to marry his son to the daughter of Philip III of Spain and use her huge dowry to pay off his debts, with the ultimate aim of reconciling the English church with Rome." (6) Marriage Contract The English Parliament was actively hostile towards Spain and Catholicism, and when called by James in 1621, the members hoped for an enforcement of recusancy laws, a naval campaign against Spain, and a Protestant marriage for the Prince of Wales. (7) Francis Bacon , the Lord Chancellor, led the campaign against the proposed marriage and along with other MPs suggested that Charles should be married to a Protestant princess. James insisted that the House of Commons be concerned exclusively with domestic affairs and should not be involved in making decisions about foreign policy. (8) The king's supporters responded by accusing Bacon of bribery and corruption and he was impeached before the House of Lords. Not since the fifteenth century had a great officer of the crown been overthrown in Parliament. (9) Bacon was fined £40,000 and "imprisonment at the king's pleasure".

He was also barred from any office or employment in the state and forbidden to sit in parliament or come within the verge (12 miles) of the court. The fine was never collected and his imprisonment in the Tower of London lasted only three days. (10) James refused to accept defeat and he arranged for Charles to be tutored in Spanish and the latest continental dance steps. In February 1623, he travelled incognito with George Villiers , the Duke of Buckingham, to Madrid, to meet members of the Spanish royal family. He was described as having "grown into a fine gentleman" but it was also observed that he looked undistinguished and was only five feet four inches tall. (11) During this period Charles was strongly influenced by Buckingham's political ideas. (12) John Morrill has pointed out: "Charles's decision to undertake a personal courtship as a way of breaking through the diplomatic deadlock was an indication of his growing self-confidence. He was now commonly acting as a political agent, meeting with privy councillors, foreign ambassadors, and the duke of Buckingham, sometimes under his father's instructions, sometimes independently.

The decision to travel to Spain and conduct face-to-face negotiations to conclude his marriage was a further step in his maturation." (13) The Spanish negotiators demanded that Charles convert to Roman Catholicism as a condition of the match. They also insisted on toleration of Catholics in England and the repeal of the penal laws. After the marriage Maria Anna would have to stay in Spain until England complied with all the terms of the treaty. Charles knew that Parliament would never accept this deal and he returned to England without a bride. (14) It was now decided to change foreign policy and James now opened up talks about the possibility of an alliance with Louis XIII of France that involved the marriage of Charles to Henrietta Maria , the king's sister. It was unprecedented for a Catholic princess to be married to a Protestant. Pope Urban VIII only gave his permission when he was assured that the treaty signed in November 1624 included "commitments about religious rights of the queen, her children, and her household; while in a separate secret document Charles promised to suspend operation of the penal laws against Catholics".

(15) In February 1624, George Villiers , the Duke of Buckingham, managed to persuade most members of Parliament to the new anti-Spanish policy and to negotiate a treaty with France. However, it was not explained to Parliament that the proposed marriage would involve increased toleration for Roman Catholics. (16) These negotiations resulted in Parliament losing confidence in King James. They no longer trusted him and he was forced into making several concessions. This included a Monopoly Act, which forbade royal grants of monopolies to individuals. James also agreed to work closely with Parliament to deal with the economic crisis that the country was experiencing at the time. (17) Members of the Puritan gentry, John Pym , Denzil Holles and Arthur Haselrig , became the king's main opponents in the House of Commons. Pym eventually emerged as the group's leader. (18) "What made Pym a successful parliamentary politician was his total inner certainty, and the emotional force this gave to his performances. He benefited from a curious incongruity which combined the meticulous attention to unemotional detail of a skilled accountant with the driving passion of a religious enthusiast....

He also enjoyed a considerable intelligence, and an exceptional personal force. All this was backed up by a prodigious capacity for hard work." (19) King Charles James I died on 27th March 1625. Charles married fifteen-year-old Henrietta Maria by proxy at the church door of Notre Dame on 1st May. Charles met her at Dover on 13th June and was described as being small-boned and petite and "being for her age somewhat little". (20) Another source said she was "a gawky adolescent, enormous eyes, bony wrists, projecting teeth and a minimal figure". (21) Caroline M. Hibbard provides a more positive image arguing that she had "brown hair and black eyes and a combination of sweetness and wit remarked on by almost every observer." (22) Many members of the House of Commons were opposed to the king's marriage to a Roman Catholic, fearing that it would undermine the official establishment of the reformed Church of England.

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. When the king was crowned on 2nd February 1626 at Westminster Abbey, his wife was not at his side as she refused to participate in a Protestant religious ceremony. (23) At this time King Louis XIII was involved in a civil war against the Protestants (Huguenots) in France. Parliament wanted to help the Huguenots but Charles refused as he did not want to upset his wife or brother-in-law. Eventually it was agreed to send a fleet of eight ships to France. However, at the last moment Charles sent orders that the men should fight for, rather than against, Louis XIII. The captains and crews refused to accept these orders and fought against the French. (24) Charles was willing to declare war on Spain.

Rather than direct involvement in the European land war, the English Parliament preferred a relatively inexpensive naval attack on Spanish colonies in the New World, hoping for the capture of the Spanish treasure fleets and only granted a subsidy of £140,000, which was an insufficient sum for Charles's war plans. (25) Duke of Buckingham Charles was disappointed by this decision and so he called another Parliament. This time, George Villiers , the Duke of Buckingham, made a long speech where "he defended his policies, assured them of his commitment to the war, including a naval assault upon Spain, and gave them details of the King's financial obligations". However, they pointed out that the country could not afford more taxes at a time of economic recession. Charles responded by dissolving Parliament. (26) In the summer of 1627, Buckingham attempted to aid his new Huguenot allies besieged at La Rochelle in France. On 12th July, an English force of 100 ships and 6,000 soldiers arrived at Sablanceau .

A French force of 1,200 infantry and 200 horsemen under the Marquis de Toiras, the island's Governor, resisted the landing from behind the dunes, but the English beachhead was maintained. The siege continued until October, during which he lost more than 4,000 of a force of 7,000 men. (27) Sir John Eliot , Buckingham's main critic in the House of Commons, instigated impeachment proceedings against the king's main adviser. In May 1626, Charles nominated Buckingham as Chancellor of Cambridge University in a show of support, and had Eliot arrested at the door of the House. His imprisonment resulted in a great deal of protest and the the king was forced to order the release of Eliot. However, Charles refused to dismiss Buckingham and instead dissolved Parliament. (28) Although the king continued to protect Buckingham he was hated by the public and on 23rd August 1628, he was stabbed to death at the Greyhound Pub in Portsmouth . The assassin was John Felton , an army officer who had been wounded in the earlier military adventure and believed he had been passed over for promotion by Buckingham.

However, he made it clear that his act was based on his belief in the House of Commons and that by "killing the Duke he should do his country great service". (29) Dispute with the House of Commons Charles's third parliament was held in 1628. After the failure of the campaigns against Spain, the leading members of the Commons were extremely critical of the Government. They complained about the mismanagement of the war against the Spaniards and on behalf of the French Protestants, and also objected to the King's attitude towards the Church of England. He was accused of promoting "churchmen who believed in free will rather than predestination to achieve salvation and of appointing clergy who preferred the retention of Catholic ritual and rites in services to long sermons and extempore prayer". (30) Barry Coward , the author of The Stuart Age: England 1603-1714 (1980) has argued that his problems with Parliament was partly caused by his poor communication skills: "Charles was a shy man of few words, possibly as a result of a speech defect...

Consequently, his contemporaries found that he was unapproachable and, what was worst, uncommunicative, especially in parliament, where his intentions and his actions often went unexplained, leaving others free to interpret them to his disadvantage. Charles also showed that he possessed none of his father's political shrewdness or flexibility." (31) Charles I by Gerrit van Honthorst (1628) Charles closed Parliament down in March 1629 and governed alone for the next eleven years. Charles now had a problem. He was very short of money, but under the terms of the Magna Carta taxes could not be imposed without the agreement of Parliament. Charles now began raising money by exacting forced loans from his wealthier subjects. He also attempted to make money from selling knighthoods. In the 16th century, all men with land worth £40 a year were required to pay for a knighthood.

However, rapid inflation pushed many into this category "who were below the social level of knights and had no relish for an honour which might well oblige them to perform functions in the local communities for which they had neither the leisure, the qualifications, nor the necessary status." (32) Oliver Cromwell and other Puritans refused to buy what had once been an honour. Charles reacted to this by fining those who were unwilling to pay this money. In April 1631 Cromwell and six others from his neighbourhood appeared before the royal commissioners for repeatedly refusing to buy a knighthood. He was found guilty and fined £10. It was reported that Cromwell was so unhappy about this that he considered the idea of going to live in North America. (33) Charles found other ways of raising money. Another scheme involved selling monopoly rights to businessmen. This meant that only one person had the right to distribute certain goods such as bricks, salt and soap. This policy was unpopular as it tended to increase the price of these goods. In 1633 Charles appointed William Laud , as the Archbishop of Canterbury . Laud argued that the king ruled by Divine Right .

He claimed that the king had been appointed by God and people who disagreed with him were bad Christians. Laud believed that Church reforms had gone too far. Anglicans tended to support the policies of Laud but the Puritans strongly disagreed with him. When Laud gave instructions that the wooden communion tables in churches should be replaced by stone altars. Puritans accused Laud of trying to reintroduce Catholicism . (34) Ship Money In 1635 King Charles faced a financial crisis. Unwilling to summon another Parliament, he had to find other ways of raising money. He decided to resort to the ancient custom of demanding Ship Money . In the past, whenever there were fears of a foreign invasion, kings were able to order coastal towns to provide ships or the money to build ships. This time he extended the levy to inland counties as well, on the grounds that "the charge of defence which concerneth all men ought to be supported by all." (35) Charles sent out letters to sheriffs reminding them about the possibility of an invasion and instructing them to collect Ship Money. Encouraged by the large contributions he received, Charles demanded more the following year.

Whereas in the past Ship Money had been raised only when the kingdom had been threatened by war, it now became clear that Charles intended to ask for it every year. Several sheriffs wrote to the king complaining that their counties were being asked to pay too much. Their appeals were rejected and the sheriff's now faced the difficult task of collecting money from a population overburdened by taxation. (36) Charles I by Anthony van Dyck (1636) Gerald E. Aylmer has argued that ship money was in fact a more reasonable tax than the traditional forms of collecting money from the population. Most king's had relied on taxes on movable property (a subsidy). "Ship money had in fact been a more equitable as well as a more efficient tax than the subsidy because it was based on a far more accurate assessment of people's wealth and property holdings." (37) John Hampden was a strong critic of the king and in the House of Commons he had said that his actions was undermining the Protestant religion. "The alteration of government... goes no less than the subversion of the whole state?

Hemmed in with enemies; it is now a time to be silent, and not to show his Majesty that a man that has so much power uses none of it to help us? If he be no papist, papists are friends and kindred to him." (38) At the beginning of 1637, twelve senior judges had declared that, in the face of danger to the nation, the king had a perfect right to order his subjects to finance the preparation of a fleet. John Hampden decided to use the Ship Tax as a means of challenging the king's power by failing to pay just one pound of what he owed. (39) Hampden's biographer, Conrad Russell , has pointed out: "Hampden's motive was not to set out on a disruptive campaign of tax refusal: it was to secure a court judgment on the legality of the demand being made upon him. Once he had that judgment, however narrow and however pyrrhic, there is no suggestion of any further refusal to pay on his part.

Hampden was campaigning for the principles of rule of law and taxation by consent, not for an arbitrary right to refuse any tax he did not like." (40) In November, Hampden was prosecuted for refusing to pay the Ship Money on his lands in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The court case was a test of power between sovereign and subject. The judges voted seven against five in favour of conviction but the publicity surrounding the case made Hampton one of the most popular men in England. (41) More importantly, if "ship money was legal, non-parliamentary government had come to stay". (42) Oliver Cromwell , who was Hampden's cousin, was also a strong opponent of the Ship Tax. He argued that such a tax was "a prejudice to the liberties of the kingdom" and that there should be no taxation without the consent of Parliament. One of the critics of the tax said "he knew no law besides Parliament to persuade men to give away their own goods". Cromwell agreed and said he was "a great stickler" against the tax. During this period Cromwell developed a local reputation among those opposed to Charles's government.

(43) Diane Purkiss , the author of The English Civil War: A People's History (2007), has argued that by his actions, Hampden had successfully portrayed Charles as "a tyrant" and after the court case many people refused to pay the tax. "For the sheriffs and constables forced to collect small sums such as a penny from the poorest people, life became nearly unbearable." (44) The struggle against the Ship Tax continued in the House of Commons. This was led by John Pym , a Puritan, who was a large landowner in Somerset. He was known for his anti-Catholic views and saw Parliament's role as safeguarding England against the influence of the Pope: "The high court of Parliament is the great eye of the kingdom, to find out offences and punish them". However, he believed that the king, who had married Henrietta Maria , a Catholic, was an obstacle to this process: "we are not secure enough at home in respect of the enemy at home which grows by the suspending of the laws at home". Pym was a believer in a vast Catholic plot.

Some historians agree with Pym's theory: "Like all successful statesmen, Pym was up to a point an opportunist but he was not a cynic; and self-delusion seems the likeliest explanation of this and his supporters' obsession. That there was a real international Catholic campaign against Protestantism, a continuing determination to see heresy destroyed, is beyond dispute." (45) Long Parliament William Laud upset the Presbyterians in Scotland when he insisted they had to use the English Prayer Book. Scottish Presbyterians were furious and made it clear they were willing to fight to protect their religion. In 1639 the Scottish army marched on England. Charles, unable to raise a strong army, was forced to agree not to interfere with religion in Scotland. The Scots demanded £40,000 a month in compensation. If this was not paid they would leave their army in England. After lengthy negotiations, this was reduced to £850 a day. (46) Charles did not have the money to pay the Scots and so he had to ask Parliament for help. The Parliament summoned in 1640 lasted for twenty years and is therefore usually known as The Long Parliament.

This time Parliament was determined to restrict the powers of the king. The king's two senior advisers, William Laud and Thomas Wentworth were arrested and sent to the Tower of London . Charged with treason, Wentworth's trial opened on 22nd March, 1641. The case could not be proved and so his enemies in the House of Commons , led by John Pym , Arthur Haselrig and Henry Vane , resorted to a Bill of Attainder. Charles gave his consent to the Bill of Attainder and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, was executed on 12th May 1641. "Nothing left so deep a scar on Charles's character, and his subsequent reputation, as the death of Stafford." (47) Archbishop Laud was also taken into custody. One member of parliament, Harbottle Grimstone , described Laud as "the root and ground of all our miseries and calamities". Other bishops, including Matthew Wren of Ely, and John Williams of York, were also sent to the Tower.

In December, 1641, Pym, introduced the Grand Remonstrance, that summarised all of Parliament's opposition to the king's foreign, financial, legal and religious policies. It also called for the expulsion of all bishops from the House of Lords. (48) During this period Oliver Cromwell emerged as one of the king's main critics. "In those opening months he served on eighteen high-profile committees, especially those concerned with investigating religious innovation and abuse of ecclesiastical power. His faith and trust in God made him fearless. And more than once he spoke his mind too forcefully and was reproved by the house. Sir Philip Warwick , a supporter of the monarchy, described Cromwell as someone who "wore... a plain cloth-suit, which seemed to have been made by a poor tailor; his shirt was plain, and not very clean; and I remember a speck or two of blood upon his collar... his face was swollen and red, his voice sharp and untunable, and his speech full of passion." (49) English Civil War King Charles realised he could not allow the situation to continue. He decided to remove the leaders of the rebels in Parliament.

On 4th January 1642, the king sent his soldiers to arrest John Pym , Arthur Haselrig , John Hampden , Denzil Holles and William Strode . The five men managed to escape before the soldiers arrived. Members of Parliament no longer felt safe from Charles and decided to form their own army. After failing to arrest the Five Members , Charles fled from London and formed a Royalist Army (Cavaliers) whereas his opponents established a Parliamentary Army (Roundheads). (50) Religion was an important factor in deciding which side people supported. The king's persecution of Puritans meant that most members of this religious group supported Parliament, whereas most Anglicans and Catholics tended to favour the royalists. Large landowners often persuaded their workers to join their army. Landowners living in the north and south-west of England and Wales tended to side with the king, whereas people living in London and the counties in the south-east of England mainly supported Parliament. (51) Attempts were made to negotiate an end to the conflict. On 25th July the king wrote to the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University inviting the colleges to assist him in his struggle.

When they heard the news, the House of Commons sent Cromwell with 200 lightly armed countrymen to blocked the exit road from Cambridge . On 22nd August, the king "raised his standard" at Nottingham , and in doing so marked the beginning of the English Civil War . At a time when most Englishmen were dithering and waiting upon events, Cromwell decided to take action and captured Cambridge Castle and seized its store of weapons. Soon afterwards he was given the rank of Captain and assigned to the cavalry commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton . (52) The king marched around the Midlands enlisting support before marching on London . It is estimated he had about 14,000 followers by the time he encountered the Parliamentary Army at Edgehill on 22nd October, 1642. Robert Devereux , the Earl of Essex, only had 3,000 cavalry against the 4,000, serving the king. He therefore decided to wait until the rest of his troops, who were a day's march behind, arrived. The battle began at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 23rd October.

Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers made the first attack and easily defeated the left-wing of the Parliamentary forces. Henry Wilmot also had success on the right-wing but Stapleton and Cromwell were eventually able to repel the attack. Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes , later recalled that Cromwell "never stirred from his troops" and fought until the Cavaliers retreated. (53) Prince Rupert's cavalrymen lacked discipline and continued to follow those who ran from the battlefield. John Byron and his regiment also joined the chase. The royalist calvary did not return to the battlefield until over an hour after the initial charge. By this time the horses were so tired they were unable to mount another attack against the Roundheads . The fighting ended at nightfall. Neither side had one a decisive advantage. (54) A pamphlet published at the time commented: "The field was covered with the dead, yet no one could tell to what party they belonged... Some on both sides did extremely well, and others did ill and deserved to be hanged." (55) In August 1643, the Royalist army surrounded Gloucester but withdrew to avoid a confrontation when Robert Devereux , Earl of Essex, arrived the relieve the city.

Royalist forces now moved to block the Parliamentary army's return to London . Charles with 8,000 foot soldiers and 6,000 cavalrymen, set up defensive positions to the west of Newbury. Prince Rupert was in command of the cavalry and Jacob Astley the infantry. Essex had 10,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 cavalrymen. Although he arrived after the Royalists he managed to secure the best ground at Round Hill. An attack led by John Byron and his Cavaliers at Newbury failed to capture the position from the Roundheads . The Royalists ran short of ammunition and that night, despite the protests of Prince Rupert and John Byron, the king decided to withdraw to Oxford . This enabled Essex and his Parliamentary army to return to London in triumph. (56) On 2nd July 1644, the battle at Marston Moor lasted two hours. Over 3,000 Royalists were killed and around 4,500 were taken prisoner. The Parliamentary forces lost only 300 men.

Oliver Cromwell spoke of it as "an absolute victory obtained by the Lord's blessing upon the godly party principally… God made them as stubble to our swords". (57) John Philipps Kenyon has argued that "Rupert's high military reputation suffered a blow from which it never recovered." (58) In February 1645, the House of Commons decided to form a new army of professional soldiers. This became known as the New Model Army . It was made up of ten cavalry regiments of 600 men each, twelve foot regiments of 1,200 men, and one regiment of 1,000 dragoons. General Thomas Fairfax , was appointed as its commander-in-chief. The new army contained a larger number of ideologically-committed soldiers and officers than any other army that had taken the field so far. Cromwell was quoted as saying: "I would rather have a plain russett-coated captain that know what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a gentleman and nothing else." (59) Members of the New Model Army received proper military training and by the time they went into battle they were very well-disciplined.

In the past, people became officers because they came from powerful and wealthy families. In the New Model Army men were promoted when they showed themselves to be good soldiers. For the first time it became possible for working-class men to become army officers. Oliver Cromwell thought it was very important that soldiers believed strongly in what they were fighting for. Where possible he recruited men who, like him, held strong Puritan views and the New Model Army went into battle singing psalms, convinced that God was on their side. (60) England during the Civil War The New Model Army took part in its first major battle just outside the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire on 14 June 1645. The battle began when Prince Rupert led a charge against the left wing of the parliamentary cavalry which scattered and Rupert's men then gave chase. While this was going on Cromwell launched an attack on the left wing of the royalist cavalry. This was also successful and the royalists that survived the initial charge fled from the battlefield. While some of Cromwell's cavalry gave chase, the majority were ordered to attack the now unprotected flanks of the infantry. Charles was waiting with 1,200 men in reserve.

Instead of ordering them forward to help his infantry he decided to retreat. Without support from the cavalry, the royalist infantry realised their task was impossible and surrendered. (61) The battle was a disaster for the king. His infantry had been destroyed and 5,000 of his men, together with 500 officers, had been captured. The Parliamentary forces were also able to capture the Royalist baggage train that contained his complete stock of guns and ammunition. The women of the royalist camp were treated with great cruelty; those from Ireland were killed, while those from England had their faces slashed with daggers. Cromwell said after the battle that "this is none other than the hand of God, and to Him alone belongs the glory". (62) Followed a series of defeats for the royalists, Charles I surrendered to the Scottish Presbyterian army besieging Newark, and was taken northwards to Newcastle upon Tyne. After nine months of negotiations, the Scots finally arrived at an agreement with Parliament and in exchange for £400,000, Charles was delivered to the parliamentary commissioners in January 1647.

(63) Execution of Charles I Parliament initially held Charles under house arrest at Holdenby House in Northamptonshire. Members of the House of Commons had different opinions about what to do with Charles. Some like Denzil Holles were willing to accept the return of the king to power on minimal terms, whereas Puritans like Oliver Cromwell demanded that Charles agree to firm limitations on his power before the army was disbanded. They also were committed to the idea that each congregation should be able to decide its own form of worship. (64) The New Model Army , frustrated by this lack of agreement, took Charles prisoner, and he was taken to Hampton Court Palace. Cromwell visited the king and proposed a deal. He would be willing to restore him as King and the Church of England as the official Church, if Charles and the Anglicans would agree to grant religious toleration. Charles rejected Cromwell's proposals and instead entered into a secret agreement with forces in Scotland who wanted to impose Presbyterianism . (65) Charles escaped from captivity on 11th November, 1647, and made contact with Colonel Robert Hammond, Parliamentary Governor of the Isle of Wight, whom he apparently believed to be sympathetic.

Hammond, however, arrested Charles in Carisbrooke Castle. In the early months of 1648 rebellions broke out in several parts of the country. Oliver Cromwell put down the Welsh rising and Thomas Fairfax dealt with the rebels in Kent and Surrey. (66) In August 1648 Cromwell's parliamentary army defeated the Scots and once again Charles was taken prisoner. Parliament resumed negotiations with the King. The Presbyterians, the majority in the House of Commons, still hoped that Charles would save them from those advocating religious toleration and an extension of democracy. On 5th December, the House of Commons voted by 129 to 83 votes, to continue negotiations. The following day the New Model Army occupied London and Colonel Thomas Pride purged Parliament of MPs who favoured a negotiated settlement with the King . (67) General Henry Ireton demanded that Charles was put on trial. Cromwell had doubts about this and it was not until several weeks later that he told the House of Commons that "the providence of God hath cast this upon us".

Once the decision had been made Cromwell "threw himself into it with the vigour he always showed when his mind was made up, when God had spoken". (68) In January 1649, Charles was charged with "waging war on Parliament." It was claimed that he was responsible for "all the murders, burnings, damages and mischiefs to the nation" in the English Civil War. The jury included members of Parliament, army officers and large landowners. Some of the 135 people chosen as jurors did not turn up for the trial. For example. General Thomas Fairfax , the leader of the Parliamentary Army, did not appear. When his name was called, a masked lady believed to be his wife, shouted out, "He has more wit than to be here." (69) This was the first time in English history that a king had been put on trial. Charles believed that he was God's representative on earth and therefore no court of law had any right to pass judgement on him. Charles therefore refused to defend himself against the charges put forward by Parliament. Charles pointed out that on 6th December 1648, the army had expelled several members of' Parliament.

Therefore, Charles argued, Parliament had no legal authority to arrange his trial. The arguments about the courts legal authority to try Charles went on for several days. Eventually, on 27th January, Charles was given his last opportunity to defend himself against the charges. When he refused he was sentenced to death. His death warrant was signed by the fifty-nine jurors who were in attendance. (70) The Execution of Charles I of England (c. 1649) On the 30th January, 1649, Charles was taken to a scaffold built outside Whitehall Palace. Charles wore two shirts as he was worried that if he shivered in the cold people would think he was afraid of dying. He told his servant "were I to shake through cold, my enemies would attribute it to fear." Charles told the audience: "It is not my case alone, it is the freedom and liberty of the people of England; and do you pretend what you will, I stand more for their liberties.

For, if power without law may make laws, may alter the fundamental laws of the kingdom, I do not know what subject he is in England that can be sure of his life, or anything that he calls his own." (71) Troopers on horseback kept the crowds some distance from the scaffold and it is unlikely that many people heard the speech that he made just before his head was cut off with an axe. The executioner then took up the head and announced, in traditional fashion, "Behold the head of a traitor!" At that moment, according to an eyewitness, "there was such a groan by the thousands then present, as I never heard before and desire I may never hear again." (72) Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria Student Activities 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 thirteen. The couple had six children, Charles (1630-1685), Mary (1631-1660), James (1633-1701), Elizabeth (1635-1680), Henry (1640-1660) and Henrietta (1644-1670). Sophia of Bavaria met Henrietta Maria in 1641. She later recalled: "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." In 1642 Henrietta Maria fled to Holland where she raised funds for the Royalist army. She wrote to Charles I on 23rd February, 1643: "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." 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.

Question: Which English king was married to Henrietta Maria?
Answer: Charles I