At the time the drawing was made, Henriette was only five or so years old. She wears a simple dress, and her hair is tied back from her face, but is otherwise unadorned. Her only jewellery is a plain one-strand pearl necklace. Her right arm is resting on a table, which is covered with a cloth, but which appears to be otherwise empty.
Mellan appears to have caught Henriette in one of her unguarded moments, hastily drawing a rough sketch perhaps with a view to using it as the basis for a more formal portrait. One of the last royalist strongholds, it was a small oasis of safety amid the turmoil of the Civil War. The little girl was only two weeks old when her mother fled to her native France. The child was left behind in the care of Lady Dalkeith. The king now saw his new daughter for the first time.
Determined that she be brought up a Protestant, he arranged to have her christened according to the rites of the Church of England, and gave her the name Henriette, after her mother, his beloved queen.
With his orders given, Charles managed to escape just as Parliamentary forces approached the city. He would never see his little princess again. Henriette remained in the care of Lady Dalkeith and was only one year old when the city surrendered. At this point, Lady Dalkeith received an order to take Henriette to London so that she could join her brothers and sisters under the care of Lady Northumberland. Lady Dalkeith, who was determined to return the child to her parents, defied the order and organised a clandestine journey to France, taking Henriette with her.
Disguised as a peasant, with a French servant posing as her husband and Henriette dressed in the tattered garb of a peasant boy named Pierre. It was a desperately dangerous time but, in the end, the only danger they faced came not from Parliamentary forces, cut purses or spies, but from Henriette herself: the proud toddler told everyone who would listen to her that she was not Pierre but a princess of England and that the rags she was wearing were not her real clothes.
