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A Slightly Different Path for Henry de Valois:

Henry III, King of France (b.1551: d.1589) m. Anna I Jagiellon, Queen of Poland (b.1523: d.1596) (a)

1a) Henry, Dauphin of France (b.1574)

2a) John, Prince of Poland and Duke of Anjou (b.1576)​

OTL, Anna Jagiellon was meant to marry the French Henry de Valois, but whoever wrote up the Henrican Articles, which was the treaty to make him King of Poland, forgot or deliberately neglected to write in the marriage as part of his accession to the Polish Throne, and thus he delayed the marriage until suddenly he was King of France, and thus able to leave Poland, abdicate and Anna was left jilted, until she married Stephen Bathory in 1576. That marriage, however, was not consummated, and thus no children were born. It was likely that part of the reason that marriage OTL was unconsummated was that Bathory was afraid that Anna might die in childbirth, and thus he would lose the throne. However, rumors indicate she had not undergone menopause at this point, and still might have produced children. Thus, instead of this provision being left out of the treaty to put Prince Henry on the throne, it is placed in there and not only do they marry, but produce children, specifically two sons, Henry (b.1574) and John (b.1576).

Now the basics of the whole conceit of this is that, upon Henry de Valois' arrival in Poland in January of 1574, he is quickly and quietly marries to Anna Jagiellon, sometime in early February, so that they are coronated together. Like her marriage OTL, Anna is crowned in her own right, partially in case Henry gains the French crown and peaces out, which happened OTL and will happen here. But not as easily.

In mid-June of that same year, Charles IX of France dies and Henry has to rush to France to claim his rightful throne, leaving a pregnant Anna Jagiellon in Poland to deal with the issue. However, things are not so clear cut as OTL, because of the marriage and the pregnancy. So, instead of OTL, where he ran off with no ties to Poland and basically ignored them until they gave up and went looking for a new King, there's the added problem of Anna and her unborn child, who is born around November and is a healthy and strapping boy. The marriage can, obviously, not be annulled, and the child is heir to France and, presumably, Poland. And until this mess is sorted out, Anna is Queen of Poland as both Regnant and Consort. And Henry isn't about to give up his French Throne for Poland, and Anna is going to want to keep her Throne herself, and probably wants her son to inherit it.

So the couple is struck. Anna, in many ways, has the upper hand, her still having the child and all that. And so, my solution is that, around June/July of 1575, Anna (who OTL seemed to care a Henry and the whole potential marriage in question) travels to France, where they briefly reunite, Henry demands his son be sent to France, and Anna gets mocked for being so much older than her husband. He doesn't support her, she returns to Poland, only to find herself pregnant for a second time. The second son, called John, is born in February, and finally there's a son for each. After some negotiations take place, Prince Henry of France and Poland is officially granted the title Dauphin of France and sent to his father, while Anna keeps Prince John, who is granted the title Duke of Anjou (Orleans having been granted to Prince Hercule Francois during a brief period where the new King was considering making his brother his heir if regaining his son proved impossible), with the addendum that, should he inherit the Polish Throne, that title will be taken from him.

Thus, the brothers would be King of France and King of Poland.
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