Death of Gabrielle d’Estrées – Mistress of King Henry IV of France

Gabrielle d’Estrées, was a mistress, confidante and adviser of King Henry IV of France.

Gabrielle came from a family of women who were courtesans.
She had the great fortune to become the maîtresse-en-titre or official chief mistress of a king.

What sets Gabrielle apart from other official royal mistresses, is the fact that Henry wanted to marry her.

However, Gabrielle’s wedding and coronation would never happen, due to her untimely and sudden death.

Gabrielle d’Estrées was born in 1573.

Gabrielle’s mother Françoise Babou La Bourdaisière, served as lady-in-waiting to Mary Queen of Scots when she became the wife of King François II.
Gabrielle was given an education but she didn’t have an aptitude for it.

However, she did learn a great deal about feminine wiles and the ways of gallantry.

Gabrielle and her six sisters continually engaged in s3xual misconduct, and were infamous for their roles as courtesans

Gabrielle’s beauty was remarked upon as legendary.
She was tall with a graceful walk, had blonde hair and blue eyes, with a perfectly pale complexion.

It was in November 1590, when King Henry IV of France fell for the pretty Gabrielle’s charms.

Henry immediately developed an intense passion for her.
Legend says she held out in giving herself to him, until January of 1591.

Although Henry was married to Margaret of Valois, Henry and Gabrielle were openly affectionate with each other in public.

Gabrielle’s father was anxious to save his daughter from an entanglement with the king, so he married her off to Nicholas d’Amerval.
Gabrielle was dead set against the marriage, but could not defy her father.

The union proved unhappy, and with King Henry’s help, Gabrielle’s marriage was annulled.

Fiercely loyal, Gabrielle accompanied Henry during his campaigns, even when heavily pregnant.

She insisted on living inside his tent near the battlefield, making sure his clothing was clean, and that he ate well after a battle.
She would handle Henry’s day-to-day correspondence, while he fought.

Henry inundated Gabrielle with gifts, making her extremely wealthy in the process.

Gabrielle was highly intelligent, and Henry confided his secrets to her, and followed her advice.
When the two were apart, Henry frequently wrote her letters.

Born a Catholic, Gabrielle knew that the best way to end the religious wars, was for Henry himself to become a Catholic.

So, recognizing the wisdom in her argument, on 25th July 1593, Henry supposedly declared that “Paris is well worth a Mass” when he permanently renounced Protestantism.

For Gabrielle’s first public appearance as a member of the royal entourage, she rode in a magnificent, open litter before the king.
It was the only time someone preceded him in any fashion, and was clearly a public statement of her elevated status.

Gabrielle wore a black satin dress, tufted all over with white and covered in pearls and sparkling gems.
She must have made quite an impression!

On 7th June 1594, their first child was born.

It was a son, Cesar.

On 4th January 1595, Henry IV officially recognized and legitimised his son, officially recognising Gabrielle as the mother.

In 1596, Henry made Gabrielle the Marquise de Montceaux, and the following year he made her the Duchesse de Beaufort.

the 1590’s, Gabrielle was in charge of a large household that included eighty-three ladies and gentlemen, seventeen crown officials and over two hundred servants.

Gabrielle was the regular recipient of lavish gifts from foreign monarchs and French nobility.
Some of the gifts she received included a large diamond and sapphire brooch mounted in gold, from Queen Elizabeth I of England!

Their daughter, Catherine~Henriette was born in 1596, and Alexandre de Bourbon, a son born in 1598.

In March 1599, after applying for an annulment of his marriage and authority to remarry, Henry gave his mistress his coronation ring.

Gabrielle, so sure that the wedding would take place, stated,

“Only God or the king’s death could put an end to my good luck”…..

The wedding of Gabrielle and Henry was due to take place on Easter Sunday 1599.

Gabrielle was five months pregnant, and glowing with excitement for her upcoming nuptials.

Gabrielle had sailed through her first three pregnancies with excellent health, but suddenly she didn’t feel quite right.

She didn’t feel well, was having nightmares with a gloomy sense of foreboding, and was fretful.

Three days before the wedding, Gabrielle travelled by barge to Paris, while Henry remained at Fontainebleau.

When she departed, she burst into tears and held on to him.
She may have known it was the last time she would see him……

In Paris, she had dinner at the house of a friend, by the next afternoon she was in labour.

Gabrielle was in dreadful pain.
The child was dead in her womb, and the doctors worked hard to remove him.

Then she started to have convulsions.
Her face turned black and her mouth twisted to the side.

Even though there were two surgeons, three apothecaries and priest in attendance, Gabrielle died on 10th April 1599 – giving birth to her stillborn son.

he suffered an attack of eclampsia and gave birth to a stillborn son.

The King was grief-stricken, especially given the widely held rumor that Gabrielle had been poisoned.

However, the death of 29 year old Gabrielle, was most likely an attack of eclampsia.

King Henry wore black for mourning, something no previous French monarch had done.

He gave his beloved Gabrielle the funeral of a queen.

Her coffin was transported amidst a procession of princes, princesses, and nobles to the Saint~Germain~I’Auxerrois church in Paris, for a requiem mass.

Gabrielle was then interred in the Notre-Dame-La-Royale at Maubuisson Abbey.

After the funeral, the wax effigy of Gabrielle used in the ceremony, was propped up in a small chamber off of Henry’s apartments in the Louvre.

Each day it was dressed in a new gown and Henry would visit the figure for many years.

Gabrielle D’Estrées
In the Style of Lavinia Fontana.
The Hepworth, Wakefield.