Henri was the eldest son of Louis de Bourbon and Eléanor de Roye, daughter and heiress of Charles de Roye, Count of Roucy.[1] Of the eight children in his family, he and his brother François, Prince of Conti, were the only ones to have children.
At the Battle of Moncontour on 3 October 1569, Henri was wounded in the face and was forced to retreat.[3] Attending the wedding of Henry of Navarre and the subsequent massacre of Protestants, Henri was forced to convert to Catholicism, face death or life imprisonment.[4] In his escape from Paris, Henri was joined by Theodore Beza, who published his Du droit des magistrats sur leurs sujets in Germany.[5]
By 1573 the Huguenot cause had made some political gains in the Midi, consequently Henri was assigned "governor general and protector".[6] Following the Peace of Monsieur, he was restored to his governorship of Picardy.[7] During the sixth war of religion, he commanded the forces that captured Brouage and allowed English aid for the Huguenots.[8] And, it would be Henri, angered by Catholic resistance to his governorship of Picardy, who started the seventh war of religion by seizing the town of La Fère in November 1579.[9]