WI: Margaret of France and Henry IV of France have children?

Basically, what if they found each other so sexually attractive they just stayed together and had a gaggle of children. Say they had these children:

1- Prince Henri de Bourbon, Dauphin of France (b.1573)

2- Prince Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Orleans (b.1575)

3- Princess Catherine de Bourbon (b.1576)

4- Prince Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou (b.1580)

5- Princess Jeanne de Bourbon (b.1582)

6- Prince Francis de Bourbon, Duke of Berry (b.1585)

7- Princess Margaret de Bourbon (b.1587)

Say all of these children live, what happens with all of these little royals who are the direct descendents of the previous regime and the new regime? Do they do well? Who would they marry?
 
I tried to do a TL on topic - I was told that once the heir to Margot and Henri is born, and it's clear that he's healthy, Henri's mother-in-law will try to organize his assassination and claim the rights to the grandson's upbringing.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
I tried to do a TL on topic - I was told that once the heir to Margot and Henri is born, and it's clear that he's healthy, Henri's mother-in-law will try to organize his assassination and claim the rights to the grandson's upbringing.

I'm sure there are people here who know the details of the period better than I do but it just seems like that wouldn't have to be the case. I understand Catherine's reputation but if the plan was just to assassinate protestants to move a Catholic up the line of succession that could have been done easily OTL. Really when you look at the line of succession in say 1584 at the death of the Duc d'Anjou its mostly Catholics. Granted some of the Conde brothers have Protestant sympathies but I think that's mostly due to family connections and they could be expected to rule as (tolerant) Catholics. So if the opportunity was there OTL and wasn't used I don't see why we should automatically assume it would happen in an ATL where Henry has a son with Margaret.

heir apparent in 1584:

1. Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre

followed by;

2. Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, Catholic, his uncle, unmarried

3. Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Conde, Protestant, his 1st cousin, widower, no heir

4. Francois de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, Catholic, his 1st cousin, married, no heir

5. Cardinal Charles de Bourbon, Catholic, his 1st cousin, unmarried

6. Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, Catholic, his 1st cousin, unmarried

7. Francois de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, Catholic, his 2nd cousin once removed, married with heir

8. Henri de Bourbon-Montpensier, Catholic, his 3rd cousin, a child of eleven

I suppose you could argue that a Prince of Navarre might ensure a protestant succession, assuming he's raised protestant, and that might threaten Catholic interests more than the OTL situation, given that several of the Catholics on the list, as Cardinals, can't have children. Though, on the other hand, the only protestant, Henri of Bourbon-Conde, is a widower without an heir while Soissons and Henri de Montpensier are young enough to be expected to marry and have children so on balance it sill favors a lot of Catholic lines. Still, this maybe forces the ultimate solution that the young prince is raised Catholic while Henry himself is not forced to convert. Then maybe the Catholic faction would tolerate him secure in the knowledge that the succession would ultimately go to a Catholic. It might be a bit of a stretch considering the intolerance on both sides. But I have to assume that long term someone will have to convert because a protestant, or at least a protestant dynasty, is simply untenable on the throne of France at that point in time.

Of course, no matter what, the child would escape the clutches of Queen Catherine. If that's the point that was being made, that she'd want another child King she could manipulate, then I suppose I could see it but it still seems like it would be hard to pull off. It would clearly be a personal act and there are other Catholics that could step in to raise the boy who would be less objectionable to the Bourbons. Why not place the boy in the care of his Cardinal-cousin along with his Catholic mother. I'm sure the whole Bourbon dynasty would rally around him and try to shield him from Catherine and/or the Guises.
 
Henri III of Navarre, IV of France (b.1553) m. Princess Margaret de Valois (1553) (a)
1a- Prince Henri de Bourbon, Dauphin of France (b.1573) m. Marie de' Medici (b.1575) (a)
1a) Princess Elisabeth de Bourbon (b.1597) m. Henry, Prince of Wales (b.1594: d.1612) (a), Leopold, Archduke of Further Austria (b.1586)

2a) Louis II of Navarre, XIII of France (b.1600) m. Anne von Hapsburg, Infanta of Spain and Portugal (b.1600)

3a) Prince Nicholas Henri, Duke of Angouleme (b.1602) m. Marie de Bourbon (b.1605)

4a) Princess Catherine Marie de Bourbon (b.1604: d.1610)

5a) Prince Gaston de Bourbon (b.1605: d.1606)

6a) Princess Margaret de Bourbon (b.1607) m. Philip IV of Spain (b.1605)

7a) Princess Henrietta Charlotte de Bourbon (b.1609) m. Charles I of England (b.1600)
2a- Prince Charles de Bourbon, Duke of Orleans (b.1575) m. Gregoria Maximiliana of Austria (b.1581: d.1600) (a), Renee de Guise (b.1685) (b)
1a) Gregoria Maximiliana de Bourbon (b.1600) m. Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b.1590)

2b) Margaret de Bourbon (b.1604) - Abbess

3b) Christine de Bourbon (b.1605: d.1607)

4b) Francis de Bourbon, Duke of Orleans (b.1606) m. Marguerite of Lorraine (b.1615)

5b) Catherine de Bourbon (b.1608: d.1611)

6b) Charles de Bourbon (b.1611: d.1611)

3a- Princess Catherine de Bourbon (b.1576: d.1590)

4a- Prince Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou (b.1580) m. Elizabeth Stuart, Princess of England (b.1596) (a)
1a) Jeanne de Bourbon (b.1615) - Abbess

2a) Francis de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou (b.1618) m. Françoise Renée de Lorraine (b.1621)

3a) Gaston de Bourbon (b.1621 d.1623)

4a) Margaret de Bourbon (b.1626: d.1626)
5a- Princess Jeanne de Bourbon (b.1582: d.1585)

6a- Prince Francis de Bourbon, Duke of Berry (b.1585: d.1593)

7a- Princess Margaret de Bourbon (b.1587) m. Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy (b.1587) (a)
1a) Charles Antoine, Duke of Savoy (b.1602) m. Marie de Rohan (b.1600)

2a) Catherine of Savoy (b.1605) m. Charles, Duke of Lorraine (b.1604)

 
Will a Dowager Princess of Wales be able to marry an Austrian Archduke?
I have a funnier idea - a marriage is consummated, then Henry of Wales dies, and we have a kid Henry XI and I under regency of his uncle Charles Duke of York.
Also, Henri IV will be toying with Protestant alliances, and I can see Dowager Princess of Wales remarry the Winter King (since his OTL wife is Duchesse d'Anjou TTL).
 
Will a Dowager Princess of Wales be able to marry an Austrian Archduke?
I have a funnier idea - a marriage is consummated, then Henry of Wales dies, and we have a kid Henry XI and I under regency of his uncle Charles Duke of York.
Also, Henri IV will be toying with Protestant alliances, and I can see Dowager Princess of Wales remarry the Winter King (since his OTL wife is Duchesse d'Anjou TTL).

That's a great idea :)
 
Will a Dowager Princess of Wales be able to marry an Austrian Archduke?
I have a funnier idea - a marriage is consummated, then Henry of Wales dies, and we have a kid Henry XI and I under regency of his uncle Charles Duke of York.
Also, Henri IV will be toying with Protestant alliances, and I can see Dowager Princess of Wales remarry the Winter King (since his OTL wife is Duchesse d'Anjou TTL).

Well, I remember reading that Henri IV's actual anti-Habsburg policy was entirely reversed by his widow's regency, and that originally a Franco-English alliance was considered as a match between the OTL Winter Queen and LXIII or Madame Élisabeth and Henry of Wales. Either way, it could look like a bad time to be a Habsburg if England, France and the Protestant half of Germany can get their act together long enough.
 
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