Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660)

attributed to Princess Louise Hollandine, Abbess of Maubuisson, Pontoise (1622–1709) . Oil painting on canvas, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660), Princess Louise Hollandine, Abbess of Maubisson, Pontoise (1622–1709), studio of Gerrit van Honthorst (Utrecht 1590 – Utrecht 1656), circa 1650. As a boy, half-length to left, left arm resting on a support, a baton held in both hands, wearing a buff-coloured jerkin, a scarlet cloak over his right arm. Garter jewel hanging from iron mask medallion. Born at Oatlands Palace, Surrey 8 July 1640, styled Duke of Gloucester from birth, created Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Cambridge in 1659. Died at Whitehall Palace in 1660, buried in Westminster Abbey. Third and youngest son of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. In the custody of the Duke of Northumberland at Sion House (vide the Lely at Petworth) until the escape of his brother, James, Duke of York; then transferred to that of the Countess of Leicester at Penshurst; from 1650 held at Carisbrooke Castle, until the end of 1652, when permitted to go abroad. He joined his mother in Paris, until 1654, when her attempts to persuade him to become a Catholic prompted Charles II to send for Henry to be with him, first at Cologne, and from 1656 at Bruges. He entered the English regiment of foot in the Spanish army in the Netherlands (hence his armour), and acquitted himself bravely alongside his brother James at the Battle of Dunkirk (1658). Accompanied Charles back to England at the Restoration in 1660, but died in September of smallpox. Bishop Burnet (1833 edn. I. 308) says: "He was active, and loved business ... and had an insinuating temper", and that Charles II "was never in his whole life seen so much troubled" as at his death. Ashdown House, Berkshire