Henry III of France

Henry III of France

Henry III (French: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; Polish: Henryk Walezy; Lithuanian: Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1573 to 1575. As the fourth son of King Henry II of France, he was not expected to inherit the French throne and thus was a good candidate for the vacant throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, where he was elected monarch in 1573. During his brief rule, he signed the Henrician Articles into law, recognizing the szlachta's right to freely elect their monarch. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Henry III of France has received more than 4,637,738 page views. His biography is available in 69 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 67 in 2019). Henry III of France is the 172nd most popular politician (down from 155th in 2019), the 75th most popular biography from France (up from 76th in 2019) and the 16th most popular French Politician.

Henry III was the son of King Henry II and Catherine de Medici. He was born in 1551 and became king of France at the age of nine. His reign was marked by political instability, with his uncle, the Duke of Guise, controlling much of France. In 1588, the Duke of Guise was assassinated and Henry III was assassinated in 1589.