Henrietta

Also known as: Madame · Family: royal family · Role: wife of Louis XIV · First appears: Chapter 10

In chapter 10, Henrietta is described as the wife of Louis XIV, who does not love her. She is also Louise’s employer, and made her weep when she wished to dismiss Louise from her service in disgrace.

By chapter 24, Henrietta mistakes Louis XIV’s reflection for his actual form, while Philippe is struck by her beauty and notices the coldness in her eyes. Louis XIV later drags away his brother and sister. In chapter 60, he addresses her as his “dear little sister” and promises, as both brother and king, to end her griefs. Henrietta turns to Charles II as her brother, saying, “To effect that I must go to London, my dear brother.” She also speaks of Gaston d’Orleans’s consent as her husband’s, calls Chevalier de Lorraine her mortal enemy, and refers to Guiche’s efforts to get himself killed since his exile.

In 1550, Henrietta went to London and worked to secure Charles II’s support for the political counsels of Mademoiselle de Keroualle; the alliance between England and France was then signed. She also reminds Henry IV. that they are both his grandchildren.

Relationship record

Life events

• Henrietta travels to London, securing England’s alliance with France.(Chapter60 · 📍 London)
  • With: Charles II Louis XIV
  • “Madame set out for London, where she applied herself so earnestly to make her brother, Charles II., acquire a taste for the political counsels of Mademoiselle de Keroualle, that the alliance between England and France was signed”

Chapter 10

• married with Louis XIV “Monsieur, my brother, is a fine, dark young man, with a pale face; he does not love his wife, Henrietta”
• servant: Louise “she made me weep on the day she wished to dismiss Mademoiselle de la Vallière from her service in disgrace.”

Chapter 24

• with Louis XIV (They are brother-in-law and sister-in-law.) “Madame made a step forward, thinking she was looking at the form of her brother-in-law reflected in a mirror.”
• with Philippe (They are described as brother-in-law and sister-in-law in the chapter.) “whose beauty struck him; but he saw in the eyes of that princess an expression of coldness which would facilitate, as he thought, their future relations.”
• with Louis XIV (The passage identifies Henrietta as the king's sister in the immediate royal-family scene.) “dragging away precipitately his brother and sister”

Chapter 60

• siblings with Louis XIV “‘Come, come, dear little sister,’ said the king”
• married with Gaston d’Orleans “The consent of Monsieur, my husband.”
• siblings with Charles II “I would have asked my brother Charles”
• enemies with Chevalier de Lorraine “The Chevalier de Lorraine ... Is my mortal enemy.”
• friends with Guiche “You say this on account of De Guiche, whom I have exiled, at Monsieur’s desire?”
• with Guiche (Henrietta speaks in defense of Guiche’s exile.) “De Guiche, whom I have exiled, at Monsieur’s desire”

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Extracted from the original text of The Man in the Iron Mask. Made with Rho MD.