Henriette Rénard was a mistress of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.

Biography

She was the daughter of André Rénard, a wine merchant from Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, and an unknown mother who was perhaps the sister of Henri Duval. This may explain why some sources call her Henriette Rénard-Duval. She had two brothers: Jan Baptiste and Benedict.

In 1706, she met August the Strong in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, when her father had a saloon. Most historians agree that at first, Henriette didn't know her lover's true identity.

On 26 November 1707, she gave birth to Augustus's daughter, called Anna Karolina. Soon after, Henriette married François Drian. When he died, she married Claude Henri Morel.

During the first sixteen years of Anna Karolina's life, she lived with Henriette in complete obscurity without her father's recognition or support. Nevertheless, in 1723, August finally met her and, on 19 September 1724, recognized her as his daughter, creating her Countess Orzelska. Apparently, Henriette never saw her daughter again after this.

The circumstances of her later life and death are unknown.