Henry V died in 1422, leaving a king under nine months old

Henry V of England died at the Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, on 31 August 1422, most likely of dysentery, at the age of 35. His only son, Henry VI, born at Windsor on 6 December 1421, became king at 8 months and 25 days old. Sources round that differently: the Royal Family’s site says nine months, Westminster Abbey eight.

Henry V’s own age is also often misstated. Many biographies give his birth as 16 December 1387, which would make him 34, but Westminster Abbey notes that historians now agree on 16 September 1386.

His timing was cruel. Seven years after his victory at Agincourt, the Treaty of Troyes (1420) had made him heir to the French king Charles VI, whose daughter Catherine he married. He died seven weeks before the man whose crown he was waiting for. What followed:

• 31 August 1422: Henry VI succeeds as King of England, with regnal years counted from 1 September.
• 21 October 1422: Charles VI dies, and the English claim the baby is King of France as well.
• 7 November 1422: Henry V’s embalmed body, carried in procession from Dover, is buried in Westminster Abbey.
• 5 December 1422: Parliament rejects the Duke of Gloucester’s claim, under Henry V’s will, to act as regent, and instead names a council with two protectors, Gloucester in England and Bedford, who guards English interests in France.
• 6 November 1429: Henry VI is crowned at Westminster, aged seven, though the Abbey’s page says eight.
• 16 December 1431: he is crowned King of France in Notre-Dame, Paris.

The dual monarchy did not last. Abandoned by its Burgundian allies in 1435, England suffered continuing defeats in France, and the boy king grew into a ruler with little personal initiative. Deposed in 1461, briefly restored, he died in the Tower of London in 1471.