Henrietta Maria of France's letter to her son, the future King Charles II, dated probably in the 1630s or early 1640s

Source:

Handwriting of the Kings and Queens of England, W. J. Hardy, 1893

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.21209/page/n141/mode/2up

Above: Henrietta Maria, painted by Anthony van Dyck.

Above: Charles, painted by Anthony van Dyck.

Henrietta Maria of France (born November 25, 1609, died September 10, 1669) was queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I. She was mother to his two immediate successors, King Charles II and King James II and VII. Contemporaneously, by a decree of her husband, Henrietta was known in England as Queen Mary, but she never liked this name and always signed her letters as "Henriette R.", the R. standing for "Regina", the Latin word for queen.

Her identity as a Roman Catholic made Henrietta very unpopular in England and also prohibited her from being crowned in a Church of England service; she therefore never had a coronation. She began to immerse herself in national affairs as civil war loomed on the horizon, and was compelled to seek refuge in France in 1644 following the birth of her youngest daughter, also named Henrietta, during the height of the First English Civil War. The execution of King Charles I in 1649 left Henrietta Maria impoverished. She settled in Paris and then returned to England after the Restoration of the monarchy and King Charles II being put back on the throne. In 1665, Henrietta moved back to Paris, where she died in 1669.

The North American province of Maryland, a major haven for Roman Catholic settlers, was named in her honour, and the name carried over into the current U.S. state of Maryland.

The letter:

Charles, I am sore that I most begin my first letter with chiding you be cause I heere that you will not take phisike. I hope it was onlie for this day, and that to morrowe you will doe it, for yf you will not, I most come to you and make you take it, for it is for your healthe. I have given order to my lord Newcastell to send mi worde, to night, whether you will or not, therfore I hope you will not give mi the pains to goe, end so I rest
Your affectionat moher
HENRIETTE MARIE R.