Catherine de Valois is a great example of a consort who can have an incredible impact in the long run but still not have a huge amount of name recognition with the general public. For every Marie-Antoinette that lives on in perpetual fame, there are countless more consorts who aren’t remembered aside from historians/history buffs. But this is a shame, as they deserve to be remembered just like their spouses. Let’s get into our Consort of the Month: Catherine de Valois and her story.
Consort of the Month: Catherine de Valois Fast Facts
Birth Date: 27 October 1401
Death Date: 3 January 1437
Tenure (Queen): 2 June 1420 – 31 August 1422
Birth Name: Catherine
Spouse: King Henry V of England
House: Valois
Father: Charles VI of France
Mother: Isabeau of Bavaria
Why Do We Know Queen Catherine de Valois
If you are at all a fan of Six the Musical, you will know that Catherine de Valois is mentioned in it. (Bonus points if you can tell me which scene!) She is best known for being the grandmother of the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII (through his father). This is not quite as well known as one would think though, as many people generally think that the dynasty first began with Henry VIII.
In the 2019 Netflix film The King, Lily Rose-Depp portrays the French consort. My own favourite portrayal is Emma Thompson in Kenneth Brannagh’s 1989 Henry V film.
Catherine de Valois’s Early Life
Catherine was born in 1401 at the Hotel Saint-Pol, a French palace that was in what is now in the 14th arrondissement in Paris. For several centuries, it has been assumed that Catherine had a difficult and lonely childhood. Her father was prone to bouts of madness and her mother was considered to be a selfish and cruel woman. However, in the last few decades, historians have begun to re-examine Isabeau’s life and recognise that she played a significant political role during her husband’s reign when he would find himself incapacitated. In any case, Catherine’s childhood was somewhat normal for a royal child with eleven siblings, seven of whom also survived into adulthood.
An English Match, Perhaps?
Catherine’s father was in talks with King Henry IV of England for Catherine to marry the Prince of Wales; however, the English king died before anything could be signed.
However, the now-King Henry V continued on with talks for the marriage despite leading the English against the French in war. In the summer of 1420, the English were successful in defeating France, and Charles agreed to name Henry as his heir to the throne of France. The betrothal contract was signed and the couple were married in France on 2 June 1420. At the time, Henry was thirty three and Catherine was nineteen.
A Brief Marriage
Catherine and Henry returned to England; in February, Catherine was crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey in February 1421. Catherine conceived sometime in the late winter/ early spring of that year, as she was pregnant with the couple’s only child by the time Henry left to return to France for war in June. She gave birth to the future Henry VI on 6 December 1421. Sadly, the King would never meet his son- he died on 31 August 1422 after a brief but difficult illness. This meant that Catherine would be raising their son alone.
A Young King and a Welsh Union
King Henry VI took the throne at only nine months of age. While one might expect that Catherine would have served as Regent for Henry, the Duke of Gloucester who was serving as the Lord Protectorate was suspicious of her and did not allow her to take a meaningful political role. She did live in the King’s Household for several years, though, so that she was able to raise him as his mother.
We do not have a specific date when it occurred, but Catherine entered into a relationship with a Welshman, Owen Tudor. Their names were first linked around 1425 but a statute prevented the dowager Queen from marrying without permission. (Her husband would have to forfeit all lands and properties if she did marry without permission.)
Catherine and Owen had five children together, with their eldest child- Edmund- born in 1430. Their marriage was not actually revealed until after her death in childbirth in 1437. Edmund would be made 1st Earl of Richmond and was the father of the future King Henry VII.
Queen Catherine de Valois: Interesting Facts
– Catherine’s sister, Isabella, was also Queen of England- she was married to King Richard II before Henry IV seized the throne.
– Catherine is a character in Shakespeare’s 1599 play, Henry V
– We do have some idea of what Catherine may have looked like, as we do have a surviving funeral effigy that would have been created in her likeness.
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Further Readings on Queen Catherine de Valois
Norrie, Aidan, and Katherine J Lewis. “Katherine of Valois: The Vicissitudes of Reputation.” Essay. In Later Plantagenet and the Wars of the Roses Consorts Power, Influence, and Dynasty, 123–44. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023.
Looking for my earlier Consort of the Month posts? Read about:
Empress Eugenie of France
Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Queen Marie Antoinette
Catherine de Medici
Queen Adelaide
Queen Maria-Theresa of Spain
I hope you have enjoyed Consort of the Month: Queen Catherine de Valois!
Cheers,
The Historian
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