![[portrait, Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England, Studio of Anthony Van Dyck, 1632]](/msa/mdmanual/01glance/images/henriet.jpg)
Maryland's name honors Queen Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), wife of Charles I (1600-1649), King of Great Britain and Ireland, who signed the 1632 charter establishing the Maryland colony.
Queen Henrietta Maria was the daughter of Henry IV of France (1553-1610) and his second wife, Marie de Medici (1573-1642). She also was the sister of Louis XIII (1601-1643) of France. Married to Charles I at sixteen, she had nine children, of whom three died in infancy. In 1644, in danger because of civil unrest, Henrietta Maria left England for France. Her husband was beheaded at Whitehall in London in 1649. Henrietta Maria died in 1669 at Colombes, near Paris.
After restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Henrietta Maria's son, Charles II ruled Great Britain and Ireland from 1660 to 1685. Her son, James II ruled from 1685 to 1688.
Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of England, Studio of Anthony Van Dyck, 1632 (MSA SC 1545-1100). Courtesy of Commission on Artistic Property, Maryland State Archives.
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