Henri, Prince of Condé (1588–1646)

Henri
Prince of Condé
Tenure	5 March 1588 – 26 December 1646
Born	1 September 1588 Saint-Jean-d'Angély, France
Died	26 December 1646(1646-12-26) (aged 58) Hôtel de Condé, France
Spouse	Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency
Issue Detail	Anne Geneviève, Duchess of Longueville Louis, Prince of Condé Armand, Prince of Conti
Full name Henri de Bourbon
House	House of Bourbon
Father	Henri, Prince of Condé
Mother	Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Henri, Prince of Condé, Grand Veneur de France

Henri de Bourbon (1 September 1588 – 26 December 1646) was Prince of Condé for nearly all his life. The head of the senior-most cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, he was heir presumptive to the king of France for the first few years of his life. Henri was the father of Louis, le Grand Condé, the celebrated French general.

Life

Henri was born in 1588, the third child and only son of Henry I, Prince of Condé. His mother, Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille, was the second wife of his father. He had two older sisters, namely Catherine, his paternal half-sister who died unwed in 1595, and Eleonere, who in 1606 was married, aged 19, to 51-year-old Philip William, Prince of Orange.

Heir presumptive

Henri was a posthumous child, his father having died nearly six months before his birth. He therefore became Prince of Condé within weeks of his birth, as soon as he was recognized and confirmed by the king of France.

King Henry III of France died in September 1589, when Henri was less than one year old, and was succeeded by Henry IV of France, who was the first cousin of Henri's late father. At this point, the new king had no son or brother, and his closest agnatic kin was none other than Henri himself. Thus, from being a distant member of the ruling dynasty, Henri became Prince du Sang and heir presumptive to France, and remained so for twelve years, until the birth of the future Louis XIII of France in September 1601.

Later, during the years 1611-38, Henri was second-in-line to the throne of France, behind Gaston, Duke of Orleans. This was the period between the death of Nicolas Henri, Duke of Orleans in November 1611 and the birth of the future Louis XIV of France in September 1638.

Marriage and issue

In 1609, Henri married Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency. The couple were blessed with three children, all of them protagonists of the Fronde, namely

• Anne Geneviève de Bourbon (1619–1679), married to Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville
• Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (1621–1686), the celebrated French general known as le Grand Condé.
• Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti (1629–1666), married to Anne Marie Martinozzi

Reportedly, King Henry IV fancied Charlotte himself, and arranged a marriage with Condé in order to provide cover for an affair. However, Condé would have none of it, and escaped with his wife first to Brussels and later to Milan, both of which were under the rule of the House of Habsburg. The Condé affair became part of the international conflict known as the War of the Jülich Succession (one of the precursors to the Thirty Years' War).

Ancestors

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 1 September 1588 - 26 December 1646 His Serene Highness The Duke of Enghien
• 26 December 1646 - 26 December 1646 His Serene Highness The Prince of Condé