Henrietta Maria and Charles I of England were married on 13 June 1625, during a brief period in which England's pro-Spanish policy was replaced by a pro-French policy. After an initial difficult period, she and Charles formed an extremely close partnership. Henrietta never fully assimilated herself into English society; she did not speak English before her marriage, and as late as the 1640s had difficulty writing or speaking the language. This, combined with her Catholic beliefs, marked her out as different and potentially dangerous in the religiously intolerant English society of the time, and led to her becoming an unpopular queen with the general public.
Henrietta first met her future husband in Paris, in 1623, while he was travelling to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss a possible marriage with the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain – Charles first saw her at a French court entertainment. Charles's trip to Spain ended badly, however, as King Philip IV of Spain demanded he convert to Catholicism and live in Spain for a year after the wedding to ensure England's compliance with the terms of the treaty. Charles was outraged, and upon returning to England in October, he and Buckingham demanded that King James declare war on Spain.
Searching elsewhere for a bride, Charles looked to France instead. The English agent Kensington was sent to Paris in 1624 to examine the potential French match, and the marriage was finally negotiated in Paris by James Hay and Henry Rich. Henrietta was quite young at the time of her marriage, but not unusually so for royal princesses of the period.
The new Queen brought to England with her a huge quantity of expensive possessions; including diamonds, pearls, rings, diamond buttons, satin and velvet gowns, embroidered cloaks, skirts, velvet chapelles; 10,000 livres worth of plate, chandeliers, pictures, books, vestments and bedroom sets for her, her ladies in waiting, twelve Oratorian priests and her pages.
Henrietta married Charles by proxy on 11 May 1625, shortly after his accession to the throne. They were then married in person at St. Augustine's Church, Canterbury, Kent, on 13 June 1625, but her Catholic religion made it impossible for her to be crowned with her husband in an Anglican service; Henrietta proposed that the French Catholic Bishop of Mendes crown her instead, but this was unacceptable to Charles and the court. Henrietta was allowed to watch Charles being crowned, at a discreet distance. In the end, her failure to be crowned went down badly with the London crowds, although England's pro-French policy gave way rapidly to a policy of supporting French Huguenot uprisings, and then a disengagement from European politics and internal problems grew.
Henrietta's marriage to Charles did not begin well, and his ejection of her French staff did not improve it. Initially their relationship was frigid and argumentative, and Henrietta Maria took an immediate dislike to The Duke of Buckingham, the King's favourite.