Haiti's King Henry shot himself, rebels bayoneted his 16-year-old heir ten days later, and the queen took her daughters into exile in Pisa

Henri Christophe declared the northern Haitian state a kingdom on 28 March 1811 and was crowned King Henry I. He built the Sans-Souci Palace and the Citadelle near Milot. He had married Marie-Louise Coidavid in 1793. Their eldest son, François-Ferdinand, was sent to France for schooling and died there at about ten, possibly from abuse in an almshouse. Their youngest son, Jacques-Victor Henry, born in 1804, became heir with the title Prince Royal. In October 1820, after a rebellion, the king shot himself on 8 October and was buried in the Citadelle. On 18 October rebels bayoneted the 16-year-old Jacques-Victor at Sans-Souci. The queen and her daughters left the palace with the king's corpse, and the palace was plundered. Jean-Pierre Boyer reunited Haiti and offered them protection. In August 1821 they sailed for England under Royal Navy protection, where the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson sheltered them. They lived at 49 Weymouth Street in London from 1821 to 1824 and in Hastings, then moved to Pisa in 1824. Améthyste died there in 1831 and Athénaïre in 1839. Rumours said the queen was after money her husband had deposited in Europe; she lived without financial difficulty^†. Her will of 6 July 1841 says she never wanted to leave Cap-Haïtien. She died in Pisa in 1851 and lies in the family chapel of San Donnino church. London and Hastings put up plaques in 2022, and Pisa unveiled markers on 23 April 2023.