The French Connection

The aim of Charles I’s foreign policy was to restore his nephew’s lands in the Rhineland. France, he thought, was the key to success.

Fraser Dickinson | Published in History Today Volume 72 Issue 1 January 2022

Charles I and Henrietta Maria, by Daniel Mytens, c.1630-32. Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2021/Bridgeman Images.

The foreign policy pursued by Charles I in the 1630s had one objective in mind: the recovery of the Rhineland Palatinate for his nephew, the Prince Elector, Charles I Louis. In 1620 the Prince Elector’s father, Frederick V, had lost his German territory and the Electoral title – with its role in electing the Holy Roman Emperor – to his dynastic rival, Maximilian I, the Wittelsbach Duke of Bavaria.

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