by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

An ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales and her children Prince William and Prince Harry, Lady Henrietta FitzJames was born in 1667 at a home in St. James Square in London, England. She was the eldest of the four illegitimate children of the future King James II of England (reigned 1685 – 1688) and his mistress Arabella Churchill. Henrietta’s surname FitzJames comes partially from Anglo-Norman Fitz, meaning “son” so FitzJames means “son of James”.

Henrietta’s paternal grandparents were King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France (the daughter of King Henri IV of France and Marie de’ Medici). Her maternal grandparents were Sir Winston Churchill and Elizabeth Drake. John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who gained fame as a military leader and courtier during the reign of Queen Anne, was Henrietta’s maternal uncle. King Charles II was her paternal uncle.

In 1663, during the reign of King Charles II of England, Henrietta’s fifteen-year-old future mother Arabella Churchill was sent to court to be a Maid of Honor to the Duchess of York. The Duchess of York, born Anne Hyde, was the first wife of King Charles II’s brother James, Duke of York, the future King James II. Because King Charles II and his wife Catherine of Braganza had no children, James, Duke of York was the heir presumptive to the throne and did succeed his brother in 1685. Arabella captured James’ eye and by 1665, she was his mistress. The Churchill family was firmly loyal to the royal household, and their only feeling about Arabella’s position as a royal mistress seems to have been “a joyful surprise that so plain a girl had attained such high preferment.”

Henrietta had three younger full siblings from her mother’s relationship with King James II:

• James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick (1670 – 1734), married (1) Honora Burke, had one son (2) Anne Bulkeley, had eight sons and five daughters
• Henry FitzJames, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1673 – 1702), married Marie Gabrielle d’Audibert de Lussan, had one daughter who became a nun
• Arabella FitzJames (1674 – 1704), became a nun

Henrietta had eight half-siblings from King James II’s first marriage (before he became king) to Lady Anne Hyde but only two survived childhood and both were reigning Queens of England:

• Charles, Duke of Cambridge (1660 – 1661), died at age six months from smallpox
• Queen Mary II of England (1662 – 1694), married her first cousin William III, Prince of Orange in 1677, ascended to the throne in 1689 as co-ruler with her husband after the deposition of her father, no surviving children
• James, Duke of Cambridge (1663 – 1667), died at age three from smallpox
• Queen Anne of Great Britain (1665 – 1714), married Prince George of Denmark, had 17 pregnancies, five live births, no surviving children
• Charles, Duke of Kendal (1666 – 1667), died at age ten months
• Edgar, Duke of Cambridge (1667 – 1671), died at age three
• Henrietta (born and died 1669), died at age ten months
• Catherine (born and died 1671),  died at age ten months

Henrietta had seven half-siblings from King James II’s second marriage to Maria Beatrice of Modena but only the youngest two survived childhood:

Henrietta had three half-siblings from her mother’s marriage to Charles Godfrey:

Henrietta’s son James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave; Credit – Wikipedia

Henrietta was raised in the Roman Catholic religion and both her husbands were Roman Catholic. On November 29, 1683, she married Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave. Henrietta and Henry had three children. Through their elder son James, they are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales and her sons Prince Willaim and Prince Harry.

• James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave (1684 – 1741), married Mary Webb, had two sons and one daughter
• The Honorable Arabella Waldegrave (1687 – 1740), became a nun
• The Honorable Henry Waldegrave (1688 – circa 1726)

In 1688, the Glorious Revolution forced Henrietta’s father King James II of England to vacate the throne in favor of his daughter (and Henrietta’s half-sister) Queen Mary II and her husband and first cousin (also Henrietta’s first cousin) King William III. The former King James II, his second wife Maria Beatrice of Modena, and their son James Edward Francis Stuart, the former Prince of Wales (Henrietta’s half-brother) were exiled. They settled in France, where King James II’s first cousin King Louis XIV provided him with the Palace of St. Germain. Henrietta and her first husband Henry accompanied her father to France. In 1687, Henry became Comptroller of the Royal Household and continued in that position at King James II’s court-in-exile at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1688, Henry was appointed as the English Ambassador to France. 28-year-old Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave died on January 24, 1689, in Saint Germain-en-Laye, France.

22-year-old Henrietta struggled to come to terms with suddenly becoming a widow. In 1695, she angered her father King James II by becoming pregnant. James II ordered Henrietta to spend her pregnancy at the Benedictine Abbey in Pontoise, France. Mark Talbot, the illegitimate son of Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, was rumored to be the father but Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye whom Henrietta married on April 3, 1695, is also a possible father. The fate of Henrietta’s illegitimate child is unknown.

Henrietta’s second husband Piers Butler, 3rd Viscount Galmoye, an Anglo-Irish nobleman, was fifteen years older than her and had served her father King James II as Privy Councillor of Ireland, Lieutenant of the County of Kilkenny, and Colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Irish Horse. In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, Piers likely could have held on to his Irish land in Kilkenny and Wexford if he had given his allegiance to King William III of England instead of following King James II into exile in France. In 1697, the English Parliament attainted him and declared his titles forfeit. In 1692, the exiled King James II created Piers Earl of Newcastle in County Limerick in the Jacobite peerage of Ireland. He later served in the French army as a Lieutenant-General.

St Thomas the Apostle Church, Navestock; Credit – By John Winfield, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9135883

Although Henrietta was fifteen years younger, she predeceased her second husband Piers. She died on April 3, 1730, aged 63, in Navestock, Essex, England, and was buried in the St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Navestock. The Waldegrave family manor, the family home of her first husband which Henrietta’s elder son inherited, was in Navestock. There are various Waldegrave memorials in St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Her second husband Piers Butler survived her by ten years, dying in Paris, France on June 18, 1740, at the age of 88. He was buried at St.Paul’s Church in Paris.

Memorial to Henrietta erected by her elder son at St. Thomas the Apostle Church; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Henrietta’s elder son James erected a memorial to his mother at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Navestock, Essex, England.

The text translated from the Latin: To God the Best and Greatest, here rests the most illustrious Lady Henrietta Waldegrave, beloved wife of Henry Baron Waldegrave, daughter of King James II and the Most Noble Lady Arabella Churchill, sister of the most mighty prince, the Duke of Berwick. She was adorned not so much with splendor of birth, but just as much with all the virtues and qualities of mind and body. She died 3rd April A.D. 1730 aged 63. Her dearest son, James, Earl, Viscount, and Baron Waldegrave, placed this memorial sacred to her happy memory.

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Works Cited

• Arabella Churchill (royal mistress). (2023). Wikipedia.
• Beauclerk-Dewar, Peter & Powell, Roger. (2006). Right Royal Bastards – The Fruits of Passion. Burke’s Peerage & Gentry LLC.
• Flantzer, Susan. (2017). King James II of England. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-james-ii-of-england/
• Henrietta FitzJames. (2022). Geni_family_tree. https://www.geni.com/people/Henrietta-FitzJames/6000000003615927484
• Henrietta FitzJames. (2024). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_FitzJames
• Henrietta Fitz James Waldegrave (1667-1730) -… (n.d.). www.findagrave.com. Retrieved July 4, 2024, from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72003420/henrietta-waldegrave
• Henry Waldegrave, 1st Baron Waldegrave. (2024). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Waldegrave,_1st_Baron_Waldegrave
• Weir, Alison. (2008). Britain’s Royal Families – The Complete Genealogy. Vintage Books.