Isabella of Valois
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Isabella of Valois (9 November 1389 – 13 September 1410) was a Princess of France, daughter of King Charles VI and Isabeau de Bavière. She was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England from 1396 to 1400.
She was born in Paris. Her younger siblings included John, Dauphin, Catherine of Valois and Charles VII of France. Catherine of Valois later married King Henry V of England.
On 31 October, 1396, when Isabella was six, she was married to the widower King Richard II of England, in a move for peace with France. Although the union was political, Richard II and the child Isabella developed a mutual respectful relationship. Isabella was moved to Wallingford Castle for protection while Richard went on a campaign in Ireland. When, on his return to England, Richard II was imprisoned and murdered, Isabella was ordered by new king Henry IV to move out of Windsor and had to settle in the Bishop of Salisbury's Thameside palace at Sonning.
Henry IV did not know what to do with her; he then decided that she should marry his son, the future Henry V of England, but Isabella put her foot down and utterly refused to have anything to do with the prince. Knowing her husband was dead, she went into mourning and ignored Henry IV's demand; eventually Henry let her go back to France.
On 29 June 1406, Isabella was married again to her cousin Charles, duc d'Orléans. Isabella died in childbirth at the age of 21, leaving one daughter. Said daughter Jeanne (1409, Blois – 1432, Angers), married John II of Alençon in 1424.
| Preceded by Anne of Bohemia |
Queen Consort of England 31 October 1396 - 29 September 1399 |
Succeeded by Joanna of Navarre |
