(A.D 1609-1669.)
Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I., was the youngest child of Henry IV. of France, and his second wife, Marie de Medicis.
A.D. 1609. She was born at Louvre in 1609, and Madame de Monglat, the royal governess, took charge of her, as she had done of all her brothers and sisters from the time of their births.
This princess had a grand baptism, no less a person than the pope's nuncio acting as sponsor. The name given to her was Henrietta Marie, but it became anglicized when she was so young that we must speak of her as she was known during the greater and more important part of her existence.
She was unfortunate in having a mother who was so weak-minded, petulant, and bigoted as to be quite incapable of instilling into her children the wise principles that they needed to fit them for the battle of life.
The little Henrietta was but six months old when her father was killed by Ravaillac; and her first appearance in public was made on the occasion of his funeral. She was carried in the arms of Madame de Monglat in the doleful procession, and her baby hands sprinkled the murdered
