Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
Henry Stuart, 1st Duke of Gloucester (8 July 1640 – 18 September 1660) was the third adult (and youngest) son of Charles I and his queen, Henrietta Maria of France. He is also known as Henry of Oatland.
[edit] Potential heir
After his father's defeat at the end of the English Civil War, the prince (unlike his older brothers, who escaped with their mother to France) was captured and brought to London. His captivity was largely shared by his elder sister Princess Elizabeth. He was lodged in the royal apartments in the White Tower of the Tower of London, under the "protection" of the Republican army. During the debates among Republican army leaders Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton about what kind of regime should succeed the now abolished rule of Charles I, it was briefly suggested that the young prince might be placed on the throne, and made to govern as the kind of limited, constitutional monarch that Parliament wanted. Part of the motivation for this came from the perception that, unlike his brothers Charles and James, he was sufficiently young to have not yet been "corrupted" by the Catholic and absolutist views of his mother and father, and might be brought up by tutors who shared the Parliamentary perspective. However, this option quickly faded away, as the Rump Parliament opted instead for the establishment of a Republican Commonwealth. Henry was moved to more comfortable surroundings and allowed to live with relative freedom under the eyes of his Parliamentary guardians.
He and his sister were permitted to visit their father on the eve of his execution in January 1649. Elizabeth was then thirteen and Henry was eight. Elizabeth later wrote a wrenching account of the meeting which was found among her possessions when she died in September 1650:
| “ | He bid us tell my mother that his thoughts had never strayed from her, and that his love would be the same to the last. Withal, he commanded me and my brother to be obedient to her; and bid me send his blessing to the rest of my brothers and sisters, with communications to all his friends. Then, taking my brother Gloucester on his knee, he said, 'Sweetheart, now they will cut off thy father's head.' And Gloucester looking very intently upon him, he said again, "Heed, my child, what I say: they will cut off my head and perhaps make thee a king. But mark what I say. Thou must not be a king as long as thy brothers Charles and James do live; for they will cut off your brothers' heads when they can catch them, and cut off thy head too at the last, and therefore I charge you, do not be made a king by them.' At which my brother sighed deeply, and made answer: 'I will be torn in pieces first!' And these words, coming so unexpectedly from so young a child, rejoiced my father exceedingly. And his majesty spoke to him of the welfare of his soul, and to keep his religion, commanding him to fear God, and He would provide for him. Further, he commanded us all to forgive those people, but never to trust them; for they had been most false to him and those that gave them power, and he feared also to their own souls. And he desired me not to grieve for him, for he should die a martyr, and that he doubted not the Lord would settle his throne upon his son, and that we all should be happier than we could have expected to have been if he had lived; with many other things which at present I cannot remember. | ” |
[edit] Paris
Eventually, in 1652, Oliver Cromwell agreed to release Henry, and he travelled to join his mother and brothers in Paris. However, at least some of the influences that Cromwell had hoped to exert appeared to have been successful, as Henry had become a staunch Protestant, and quarrelled bitterly with his mother over matters of religion and politics. Their dislike for one another reached such a level that Henrietta virtually expelled him from Paris, and he went to join the Spanish armies fighting at Dunkirk. He consistently distinguished himself in battle, and gradually gained a reputation as one of Europe's foremost Protestant soldiers. It was during the course of the campaign that he met the renegade French military commander the Prince of Condé, who was leading the Spanish forces. Their common dislike for the Roman Catholic Church (Condé was an agnostic and one of the leading defenders of the Huguenots), created a strong bond between them. Shortly before his death, it was suggested that Henry might marry Condé's niece.
[edit] Restoration
After the conclusion of peace between France and Spain, Henry resided at one of Condé's estates, until the death of Oliver Cromwell and the gradual collapse of the Commonwealth, led to calls for the restoration of the monarchy, and he was reunited with Charles. He returned to England as part of Charles' triumphant progress through London in May 1660, and took up residence in Whitehall.
[edit] Later life
He was created Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Cambridge by Charles II, but died suddenly of smallpox not long afterwards, much to his brother's distress. Decades later, during the exclusion crisis, Henry was looked back on as a kind of 'lost leader'; as what might have been a legitimate, warlike, Protestant alternative to the equally unpalatable choices of the Dukes of York (later James II) and Monmouth (James Scott).
| Scottish and English Royalty |
|---|
| House of Stuart |
.svg) |
| Charles I |
| Charles II |
| James II & VII |
| Henry, Duke of Gloucester |
| Mary, Princess Royal |
| Henriette, Duchess of Orléans |
| Elizabeth |
[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms
[edit] Titles
- Prince Henry
- 13 May 1659 – 18 September 1660: The Duke of Gloucester
He is styled the Duke of Gloucester in a letter directed to Theobald Lord Taafe in 1642/3.
[edit] Honours
- KG: Knight of the Garter, 4 April 1653
[edit] Arms
Henry's arms were those of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points, on each a rose gules.[2]
[edit] Ancestors
| Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester | Father: Charles I of England | Paternal Grandfather: James I of England | Paternal Great-grandfather: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Mary, Queen of Scots | |||
| Paternal Grandmother: Anne of Denmark | Paternal Great-grandfather: Frederick II of Denmark | ||
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | |||
| Mother: Henrietta Maria of France | Maternal Grandfather: Henry IV of France | Maternal Great-grandfather: Antoine de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme | |
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Jeanne III of Navarre | |||
| Maternal Grandmother: Marie de' Medici | Maternal Great-grandfather: Francesco I de' Medici | ||
| Maternal Great-grandmother: Johanna of Austria |
[edit] References
|
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester
Born: 8 July 1639 Died: 18 September 1660 |
||
| Peerage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by New creation | Duke of Gloucester 1st duke, 4th creation1659–1660 | Succeeded by Extinct |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Gloucester, Henry Stuart, Duke Of |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 8 July 1640 |
| Place of birth | Oatlands Palace, Surrey |
| Date of death | 18 September 1660 |
| Place of death | Palace of Whitehall, London |
1893 text
Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest child of Charles I, born July 6th, 16—, who, with his sister Elizabeth, was allowed a meeting with his father on the night before the King’s execution. Burnet says: “He was active, and loved business; was apt to have particular friendships, and had an insinuating temper which was generally very acceptable. The King loved him much better than the Duke of York.” He died of smallpox at Whitehall, September 13th, 1660, and was buried in Henry VII’s Chapel.
Annotations
-
Born at Oatlands, Surrey 8 July 1640
Died at Whitehall 13 September 1660
Prince Henry of England and Scotland, Duke of Gloucester -
Name Henry, Duke Of Gloucester STUART15, 9C10R, M
Birth 1640
Death 1660
Father Charles I, King Of England STUART, M (1600-1649)
Mother Henrietta Of France MARIA, F (-1669)From: http://www.varleyphoto.com/genealogy/SRV_FamilyGroup/fg04/fg04_425.html
-
Henry, Duke of Gloucester, was born on July 8th 1640, the seventh child of Charles I and his wife, Henrietta Maria. His birth was followed by that of Princess Henrietta Anne on June 16th 1644 at Exeter. At the outbreak of civil war in 1642, his surviving sisters were Princess Mary, the Princess of Orange, and Princess Elizabeth. His fortunes were bound up with those of the latter as both children were parentless throughout the civil war period ,and in the hands of parliament were handed over to tutors and governesses who imposed on them a strict Presbyterian regime.Obviously the most memorable and traumatic event in their young lives was the visit to their father on the morning of his execution. The eight year old Henry was instructed by his father not to accept the crown until it had first passsed to his two older brothers. The King said “Mark what I say,you must not be a king as long as your brothers Charles and James do live.For they will cut off your brothers’heads when they catch them, and cut off thy head too at the last. And therefore I charge you, do not be made a king by them”. Henry showed his steadfastness by declaring that he would rather be torn to pieces first than such a thing should happen.
Parliament, in 1653 ,no longer wishing to maintain him ,allowed him to leave England for Holland with his tutor,Richard Lovell. Sadly Elizabeth had died of consumption at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Weight in 1650,laying her head down on the Bible which her father had given her the morning of his death.
The widowed Queen of England ,then living in Paris,
set out to convert Henry to Roman Catholicism,possibly due to her own strong religious convictions as well as to pressure put upon her by the Spanish Queen regent of France, Anne of Austria. Henrietta Maria may also have considered that the boy would have a securer future as a prince of the church than a secular prince in exile. His tutor was removed and he was sent to the Abbey at Pontoise. From there he was meant to study with the Jesuits at Clermont, but his brother Charles II vehemently intervened ,whereby at Henry’s firm refusal to change the faith Henrietta dismissed him from her presence vowing never to see him again.
In 1657 he commanded his own regiment in Bruges under the Spanish flag as his brother would enter into alliance with Spain in 1658.
He was on board the Royal Charles which sailed from Holland to Dover on May 25th 1660 conveying Charles II from exile to England.
The Duke of Gloucester’s early death on September 13th 1660 is said to have been fatal for the Stuart monarchy. He was a sound, intelligent Protestant prince who most likely would have succeeded his brother James, whose Catholicism was unfortunately unacceptable to the English public and establishment.On the other hand, he may have played little part in the struggle as the Stuarts,men of principle and true monarchs that they were regarding the concept of primogeniture, indicates that Henry may just have been as happy to treasure his father’s dying words.