The Paris Coronation of Henry VI as King of France
King Henry VI [of England] was crowned King of France in Paris on 16 December 1431.
One of the outcomes of King Henry Vs successful campaigns in France was a Treaty that agreed that upon the King of France’s death, the Crown would pass by right to England’s Kings. This claim stretched Back several generations and was the justification for English expansion and campaigning into French controlled lands.
When King Henry V died, this right was passed to King Henry VI. In 1431 the English retained control of large parts of France, though were being challenged and pressed hard by a French army that the recently executed Joan of Arc had inspired.
With King Charles VI of France’s passing, the terms of the Treaty were activated by the English. Henry VI was now the King of England and France. Henry was still young though and had not been crowned King of England due to his tender age.
Following Henry’s coronation as King of England, attention was turned to his French domain. The issue was symbolically important and would lift the English forces’ spirits in France at a time of military struggle.
Traditionally the Kings of France were crowned at Notre Dame Cathedral in Reims. The Dauphin, disinherited under the terms of the peace agreements, had seized Reims as part of the campaigns of the 1420s. So, the English prepared for Henry to be crowned in Paris.
Henry was crowned King of France on 16 December 1431. He remains the only monarch to have been crowned King of both countries. He retained his title and claim to the crown, theoretically, until after the French were victorious in the Hundred Years War.