Under a decree of her husband, she was known in England as Queen Mary , but she did not like this name and signed her letters "Henriette" or "Henriette Marie". Henrietta Maria's Roman Catholicism made her unpopular in England, [ 3 ] and also prohibited her from being crowned in a Church of England service; therefore, she never had a coronation.
She immersed herself in national affairs as civil war loomed, and in , following the birth of her youngest daughter, Henrietta , during the height of the First English Civil War , was compelled to seek refuge in France. The execution of Charles I in left her impoverished. In , she moved back to Paris, where she died four years later. The name was carried over into the current U. She was born at the Palais du Louvre on 25 November , 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. Her father was assassinated on 14 May , when she was less than a year old. Henrietta Maria was trained, along with her sisters, in riding, dancing, and singing, and took part in court plays. Henrietta Maria first met her future husband in at a court entertainment in Paris, when he was on his way to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss a possible marriage with Maria Anna of Spain.
As Philip was aware, such terms were unacceptable, and when Charles returned to England in October, he and Buckingham demanded King James declare war on Spain. Henrietta Maria was aged fifteen at the time of her marriage, which was not unusual for royal princesses of the period.
Her arms were long and lean, her shoulders uneven, and some of her teeth were coming out of her mouth like tusks A proxy marriage was held at Notre-Dame de Paris on 1 May , where Duke Claude of Chevreuse stood as proxy for Charles, shortly after Charles succeeded as king, with the couple spending their first night together at St Augustine's Abbey near Canterbury on 13 June A suggestion she be crowned by Daniel de La Mothe-Houdancourt, the bishop of Mende who accompanied her to England, was unacceptable, although she was allowed to watch her husband's coronation at a discreet distance.
