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. She turned her bedroom at Chenonceau into a permanent mourning space, draped in black with symbols of death.
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.
