Henriette of England - better known at court as Madame - is best known partly for being the first wife of the flamboyant Philippe d'Orléans and partly for her sudden and untimely death.
At the age of 16, the English exile had been married to Philippe in the Palais-Royal; shortly afterwards Henriette found herself to be in "the family way" - that would prove to be the first step in what would prove to be a troubled series of pregnancies. For the next eight years, Henriette would find herself pregnant every single year. Inevitably, this would have an immensely detrimental effect on her health.
Initially, there was little to suggest that she would have a particularly difficult time producing an heir to the Orléans-branch. Even considering the sky-high infant mortality rates and utter lack of knowledge of either bacteria or basic gynecology, both mother and father were young and seemingly healthy. Henriette's first pregnancy only strengthened the perception that children would surely come - she carried the child to term and finally gave birth to a healthy daughter on 26 March 1662. The infant girl was baptised Marie Louise and quickly handed over to a wet-nurse. It was noted that the delivery was slightly premature but due dates were difficult to ascertain and it was remarked that the birth was without complications.
Yet, it would soon become evident that Henriette's health was anything but sturdy. She was prone to illness and following the birth of Marie Louise, she suffered from insomnia, lost weight rapidly and coughed non-stop. As early as 1661, Charles II - her brother - felt concerned enough to personally write to inquire after her. Still, she recovered some of her strength and once she did her contemporaries expected her to produce a male heir.
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| Madame in 1662 - she had given birth to a healthy daughter and was possibly pregnant again |
The young Mademoiselle was healthy, alive - but a girl. As such, she was not able to inherit her father's estates due to the prevalent Salic Laws. For Henriette, this meant that although she had just been safely delivered of a strong child, she was expected to conceive soon and she did not disappoint. Exactly when she became pregnant again is unknown but this second pregnancy was nothing like the first. In 1663, it was reported that Madame had suffered "an accident" - a common term referring to miscarriages.
Around November 1663, Henriette was pregnant again. This time, there were no tragic "accidents" and when she went into labour on 27 July 1664, both she and Philippe were overjoyed to find the child to be a boy. Named for his father and grandfather, the newly-born Philippe Charles d'Orléans would join his sister in the nursery - but only for a short while. To the sorrow of his parents, Philippe Charles died at the age of just 2 years old.
Infant mortality was rampant in the 17th century so the untimely death of Philippe Charles might not have been the cause of an underlying medical condition. This is further supported by the fact that Louis XIV himself noted in a letter to Henriette's mother (Henrietta Maria of France) that both child and mother were in good health after the birth. This, at least, indicates that the birth had not been as traumatic as her first ordeal.
From 1664, something appears to have changed. The years 1664 - 1668 saw the Duchesse d'Orléans pregnant no less than four times; but tragically, each pregnancy ended in disaster. On 9 July 1665, Madame was delivered of a still-born daughter. Both her mind and psyche would be further rocked by three consecutive miscarriages in 1666, 1667 and 1668 respectively. It can only be imagined the indescribable toll this must have taken on the young woman who was not yet 25 years old.
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| Henriette in 1665. Considering that she miscarried this very year, she might have been pregnant when she sat for the portrait |
It is worth stressing that Henriette's own life was endangered with each pregnancy. When she miscarried in 1667, she fell so gravely ill that for ten days, few expected her to survive. It is actually from Philippe himself that we gain insight into this particular loss. He wrote to Henriette's beloved brother, Charles II, to inform him of his sister's condition. In doing so, Philippe explain that she had suffered "an accident" on the 5 July 1667, following which she had been thought to be dead for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, she was not able to sit up on her own for a week, according to her husband.
By December 1668, she would conceive for a final time. Given the losses of the previous years, one can hardly blame her if she felt terrified at the prospect of another miscarriage or stillbirth. Besides the emotional torment such losses brought, it should also be remembered that each one brought her own life in danger. However, as the months wore on, nothing went awry and by 27 August 1669 Henriette gave birth to her third living child - another girl. The infant was named Anne Marie d'Orléans and appeared in perfect health.
Sadly, the same could not be said of her mother; just 10 months later, Henriette of England was dead.
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| Madame holding a portrait of Monsieur |
This string of eight pregnancies of which only two resulted in children living past the age of 2 years old, leads one to wonder: why? Was there a particular reason for Madame's troubled record?
It has been suggested that perhaps she suffered from syphilis, passed on to her by her husband, Philippe. Those who argued in favour of this theory puts forward that it would explain why their eldest surviving daughter, Marie Louise, was unable to have children herself. If Henriette had contracted syphilis via her husband, it is likely that she passed it on to her children as congenital syphilis. It could be an explanation as to why she suffered so many miscarriages and stillbirths.
As for Marie Louise and Anne Marie, if their mother was infected with this venereal disease, then they would potentially suffer from it, too. However, it might not have been obvious from an untrained observer. While congenital syphilis can result in very clear symptoms - i.e. bone deformities, blindness or skin rashes - it could also show in hidden ways, such as anemia or an enlarged liver or spleen.
This is where especially the fate of Marie Louise becomes interesting. In an eerie turn of events, Marie Louise died at the exact same age as her mother had - and she exhibited the same symptoms immediately prior to death. Both mother and daughter complained of a sharp pain in her abdomen. While Henriette's pain could be attributed to a ruptured ulcer - as medical experts of the 20th century concluded - Marie Louise's could have been a result of either an enlarged liver or spleen. However, this sharp pain could just as easily be attributed to something completely different - for instance a burst appendix.
Anne Marie, on the other hand, had no problems conceiving. She gave birth to eight children of which two were stillborn. Sad is it is, that was not uncommon for the time, nor were the fact that several of her children died in childhood.
According to Lee Goldman, MD, the risk of a mother passing the infection on to the fetus is at its largest "at least the first five years of her infection" - if Henriette had been infected shortly after her wedding or even the birth of her first child, then this could explain why her last pregnancy resulted in a full-term pregnancy rather than a miscarriage/stillbirth.
It should also be pointed out that it was a rumour only that Philippe had syphilis - he might or might not have had that disease. In this connection it is interesting that his second wife, Elizabeth Charlotte, did not suffer any miscarriages (that we know of) and all their three children were born alive - although their eldest died young.
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| Marie Louise - the eldest daughter of Monsieur and Madame who would share her mother's fate of dying at age 26 |
It has also been suggested that Henriette suffered from that one illness royalty seem unable to escape: porphyria. As an example, author Irvin Sherman noted in his book "Twelve Diseases that Changed Our World" that Henriette showed symptoms of porphyria. However, there is no common connection between miscarriages and that particular disease nor is the life expectancy generally affected.
This brings another aspect into consideration - another affliction keenly known by royalty at this time: inbreeding. Philippe and Henriette were first-cousins which could have had an impact on their ability to conceive healthy children. After all, Philippe's brother, Louis XIV, had also married a first-cousin, Marie Therese, and she suffered several miscarriages as well.
At the end of the day, we will likely never know if Henriette actually did suffer from a serious illness. It is just as likely that her premature death was the cause of 8 years with non-stop pregnancies combined with a naturally delicate health. The lack of medical knowledge at the time would have made her chances of a longer life even more doubtful when one takes these aspects into consideration. Like all other women, she would have been the prey of infections, puerperal fever, hemorrhaging etc. It would not be surprising if a woman whose health was delicate from the beginning would be further exasperated by spending almost a third of her life either pregnant or giving birth.
The impact such losses had on her mental health cannot be underestimated either. Besides the obvious damage due to losing her children, Henriette - like all other women of high status - was exposed to a constant and unwavering demand for a male heir. Philippe would often publicly complain that he had no son to succeed him and Henriette herself was known to also publicly vent her frustration at the gender of her two children. This alone can only have added to the physical strain she must have been under.
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