8. This King’s First Royal Act Was to Annul His Marriage to a Queen He Did Not Love
As soon as he regained his freedom, Henry of Navarre renounced Catholicism and joined the Protestant military forces. When Margaret of Valois’ brother Henry succeeded their sibling Charles IX to become King Henry III, her husband became next in the line for the French throne, since Henry III had no male heirs. However, the fact that Margaret’s husband was a Protestant complicated matter. Soon a three-way struggle, known as the War of the Three Henrys, erupted between Margaret’s brother King Henry III, her husband, Henry of Navarre, and her former lover, Henry of Guise.
In 1588, King Henry III had Henry of Guise assassinated, along with a brother who was a cardinal. That horrified the public and led to a collapse of the king’s authority throughout most of France. Henry III was assassinated by a monk in 1589, and Margaret’s husband, Henry of Navarre became King Henry IV of France. The Parisians barred the Protestant monarch from the city, however. The new monarch had no love for Catholics, but to secure the throne he converted to Catholicism, this time willingly, with the cynical remark that: “Paris is well worth a Mass“. One of his first royal acts was to arrange an annulment of his marriage to Margaret of Valois.
