Historical faces of France in dolls

Henry IV the Great (Henry of Navarre, Henry of Bourbon, 1553-1610) - leader of the Huguenots at the end of the Religious Wars in France, King of Navarre since 1572 (as Henry III), King of France since 1589 (in fact - since 1594), founder of the French royal the Bourbon dynasty.
Henry IV's rights to the throne were confirmed by Henry III, who, being mortally wounded, ordered his supporters to swear allegiance to the Navarre monarch, but he could become king of France only after a long struggle. In order to neutralize his rivals, on July 25, 1593, Henry of Navarre converted to Catholicism and entered Paris on March 22, 1594. In 1595, the Pope granted Henry a absolution, lifting him from excommunication and proclamation as a heretic. To end sectarian strife, Henry IV signed the Edict of Nantes on April 13, 1598, granting freedom of religion to Protestants, shortly after that the Huguenot Wars ended.
In foreign policy, Henry, inspired by Minister Sully, pursued the far-reaching plans of a pan-European union in the world of Christian sovereigns.
Under Henry IV, the centuries-old process of overcoming the feudal fragmentation of the French kingdom and its unification into a centralized state was generally completed.
Killed in Paris on May 14, 1610 by a Catholic fanatic Francois Ravallac. He was buried on July 1, 1610 in the royal abbey of Saint-Denis. Regent until the age of majority of the heir (8-year-old Louis XIII) was declared a widow, Marie de Medici, who ruled until 1617.