Henry III of France

In 1570, the possibility of Henry III courting Queen Elizabeth I of England was considered. He was 18 or 19 at the time and she was almost 37. Elizabeth herself initiated them, although the historians regard this as a way of arousing the concern of Spain than any serious interest.

Henry III was not particularly fond of the prospect and called the English queen a putain publique (public whore). Ultimately, nothing resulted from these discussions. Henry III became the king, and his younger brother Francis replaced him as Elizabeth’s suitor.

Sometime before 1574, Henry became interested in Marie of Cleves, who was known for her beauty. However, she had been already married to Henri I de Bourbon, prince de Condé.

Henry III was born Alexandre Édouard de France on September 19, 1551, at the royal Château de Fontainebleau in Paris, France, to King Henry II and Catherine de' Medici.

He had nine legitimate siblings: Francis II of France; Elisabeth, Queen of Spain; Claude, Duchess of Lorraine; Louis, Duke of Orléans; Charles IX of France; Margaret, Queen of France; Francis, Duke of Anjou; Victoria of Valois; and Joan of Valois.

He also had three illegitimate siblings through his father: Diane, duchesse d'Angoulême, Henri d'Angoulême, and Henri de Saint-Rémy.

In 1560, his father bestowed upon him the titles of Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans and in 1566, the title of Duke of Anjou.

During his youth, he received his mother’s favour far more than any of his siblings. She called him chers yeux ("precious eyes") and even when he was an adult, he continued to receive his mother’s lavished fondness and attention. This seemed to have irked his older brother, Charles, who also detested him because of his better health.

On July 7, 1572, the Polish ruler Sigismund II Augustus died and subsequently, Henry III was suggested as a potential ruler to Polish nobility by French diplomat Jean de Monluc. An election was held on May 16, 1573, and Henry III was picked as the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

One stipulation that he had to abide by to be the king of Poland was to sign the Pacta conventa and the Henrician Articles, effectively swearing to uphold religious tolerance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Though he was not fond of the restrictions his new duties imposed, he signed the documents and on 13 September 1573, at a ceremony before the Parlement of Paris, he received the "certificate of election to the throne of Poland-Lithuania" from the Polish delegation.

He arrived in Poland in January 1574 and was crowned in Kraków on 21 February. Poland and its people gave the young king a cultural shock that he would never forget. He and his friends were surprised by several Polish cultural practices and disheartened by the abject poverty that persisted in the Polish countryside. The Polish people, in turn, wondered whether all French worried about their attire as much as the king did.

Charles IX died of tuberculosis on May 30, 1574, and he did not have any legitimate male child with his wife, Elisabeth of Austria. When Henry heard of his brother’s passing, he departed for France, leaving Poland in a constitutional crisis.

Henry III’s coronation took place on February 13, 1575, at Reims Cathedral. A year later, he signed the Edict of Beaulieu, granting the Huguenots the right of public worship for their religion. While this action earned him supporters among the Huguenots, it also garnered him new enemies among the Catholics. Henry I, Duke of Guise, who was a Catholic activist, established the Catholic League in response.

His younger brother Francis died on June 10, 1584 and as Henry III did not have any children or legitimate brothers left, under the Salic law, Henry of Navarre, a descendant of Louis IX (Saint Louis), a Protestant and husband of Henry III’s sister, Margaret of Valois, became his heir presumptive.

The on-going Wars of Religion gradually was turning into the War of the Three Henrys as Henry I, Duke of Guise forced Henry III to declare an edict that checked Protestantism and nullified Henry of Navarre's right to the French throne.

On May 12, 1588, Henry I, Duke of Guise entered Paris amidst much spontaneous public uprising against the king known as the Day of the Barricades. He was hailed as the hero of the staunchly Catholic city whereas the moderate, secular, hesitant government of Henry III was viewed as the oppressors. Henry III was forced to flee the city.

However, after the Spanish Armada was defeated by Queen Elizabeth I’s England in 1588, Henry III felt the threat of foreign support to the Catholic League had decreased.