HENRI III
Henri was Catherine de Medici’s favourite son. At the age of twenty, Henri fell in love with Marie de Cleves. Catherine did not consider Marie worthy of her favourite son and married her off. Always conscious of placing her children in positions of power, she pushed Henri to accept the offer of the Polish nobles to become their king. His older brother Charles was King and only 23 years old, so Henri’s prospects in France were not bright.
LOUISE OF LORRAINE
In Nancy on his way to Poland Henri met Louise of Lorraine, a lovely young noblewoman. Six months after arriving in Poland, Henri learnt his brother Charles had died, making him King of France. He immediately fled from Poland without any explanation and returned to France. He was determined to annul Marie’s marriage and was devastated when she died shortly after his return. He remembered Louise of Lorraine and married her the day after his coronation.
Henri III is the person who introduced a new court etiquette which reached its zenith later under Louis XIV at Versailles. Henri III was usually surrounded by his friends, referred to disparagingly as “the mignons” (little darlings). The emphasis on fashion, make up and earrings left the impression that Henri and his friends were effeminate. In fact, along with the perfume and posing, they were a group of young men who were as interested in fighting and bedding females as fashion.
Henri had been married for fourteen years when he was himself the victim of an assassination when a monk stabbed him in the lower stomach—it’s a risk you take when you grant an audience while sitting on the toilet.
When Henri III was attacked he was at Saint Cloud near Paris and Louise was at Chenonceau. Her mother-in-law Catherine de Medici had left the chateau to her in her will.
Henri III did not die immediately from the stab wounds. Initially underestimating the injury, he sent a letter reassuring Louise and telling her to stay where she was. In fact the wound was worse than he thought and he died the next day. Louise stayed where she was, as instructed. For the rest of her life she wore white, the royal colour for mourning.
Louise had planned to establish a convent in her chateau. After she died, her sister-in-law, in keeping with her wishes, set up a convent for the Capucine nuns, Twelve nuns initially lived in the upper level of the chateau while their permanent convent (which ended up being in Paris) was built.
Louise had not been able to have a child. It was the end of the Valois line which had begun with Henri’s grandfather François I. The heir to the throne was the grandson of François’ sister Marguerite— Henri de Navarre.