Henrietta Anne Stuart - the only royal ever born in Devon

Chris Hallam (Image: Chris Hallam)

Only one member of the Royal family has ever been born in the city of Exeter, Devon.

Her name was Henrietta Anne Stuart. She was the youngest daughter of King Charles I and she was born in Bedford House in the city in 1644.

The year 1644 was not a particularly good time for anyone to be born in England. It was a particularly difficult time to be a royal princess.

The country was being riven asunder by the Civil War as Henrietta’s father was fighting a losing battle against the Parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell.

With Exeter briefly under the control of Royalist forces, the King’s wife, the French-born Queen Henrietta Maria travelled there to give birth.

The new baby never knew her father: the King was only able to visit her once, soon after she was born. Having been baptised at Exeter Cathedral, she soon had to leave the city entirely when it threatened to come under parliamentary control once again.

By the time she was three years old, the war was all but lost. Much to her dislike, she had to be ushered out of the country for her own safety, disguised as a boy.

She took up refuge with her mother in France in the court of King Louis XIV, which at that point, was sympathetic to the English Royalist cause.

Louis XIV was to have a long and famous reign as France’s ‘Sun King’ although at this point he was still a boy, only a few years older than Henrietta Anne was.

When she was five, news reached the court that her father, the King had been defeated and publicly beheaded. England was now under the Puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell.

Although her father had insisted she be baptised as a Protestant, her Catholic mother insisted her youngest daughter be brought up as a Roman Catholic too.

This annoyed the young Princess’s older brothers, the Princes Charles and Henry. Both loved their little sister but Charles, in particular, was concerned her mother was jeopardising his own efforts to reclaim the English throne.

As it turned out, in 1660, Charles’s efforts proved successful. The monarchy was restored, he was proclaimed King Charles II and Henrietta Anne, now sixteen was able to come out of exile along with other members of the House of Stuart.

This was probably the high point of her life. She didn’t really know England having left at such a young age, but the English responded well to the young Princess’s beauty and charm.

She had suddenly become a potentially very eligible marriage prospect.

She soon returned to France, to marry a brother of King Louis XIV, Philippe, the Duke of Orleans.

Sadly, although things started well, the marriage proved a total disaster. It soon became clear Philippe was gay and adulterous.

Although they managed to have children together, Henrietta found herself isolated and alone. She began to have affairs herself and spent much of her time engaged in power battles with her husband’s lovers at court.

Her days were not entirely wasted, however.

She was unusually well-educated for a woman of the time and became well versed in many areas notably gardening and political statecraft. She began to make a real impact on international relations.

Then, one day in 1670, when Henrietta Anne was 26, she drank a glass of water and immediately collapsed in agony.

She was convinced she had been poisoned and died a painful death soon afterwards. Her brother, King Charles II was outraged on hearing the news.

He had remained in regular contact with his sister and knew all about her unhappy marriage. He remained forever convinced she had been poisoned.

In fact, she may well not have been. A post-mortem concluded that she had died as a result of peritonitis. In truth, her health had been poor for a while and though they were unhappy together, her husband had little to gain from murdering her. It was nevertheless a tragic end. and curiously her own daughter died a very similar death, also at the age of 26, some years later.