Henrietta Maria of France along with her sisters, in riding, dancing, and singing, and took part in French court plays. Although tutored in reading and writing, she was not known for her academic skills; the princess was heavily influenced by the Carmelites at French court. By 1622, Henrietta Maria was living in Paris with a household of some 200 staff, and marriage plans were being discussed. Henrietta Maria first met her future husband in Paris, in 1623, while he was travelling to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss a possible marriage with the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain – Charles first saw
Henrietta of England Maria, who died after having taken an excessive quantity of opiates as a painkiller. Henrietta was devastated, and the situation was not helped by Philippe's immediate rush to claim all her possessions before she had even been buried. Henrietta was instrumental in diplomatic negotiations between her native England and adopted France. Her brother Charles II, to whom she had always been very close (it was he who gave her the nickname "Minette"), had been trying to establish a closer relationship with France since 1663, but it was not until 1669 that he set the wheels in motion by openly admitting