She was the younger twin sister of Princess Joséphine Marie of Belgium, who died at the age of six weeks in 1871.

He was a son of Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, and Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, and thus a great-grandson of King Louis Philippe I of France.

The couple had four children: Henriette was a great sportswoman, and was often considered the best shot among the Belgian royal women.

In 1908, she accompanied her husband to the Rocky Mountains in the United States to shoot grizzly bears.

[2] In two letters, Henriette and her sister-in-law Queen Elisabeth expressed their appreciation and asked for more support from the American Commission For Relief in Belgium, which had been giving donations to the Belgian people ever since the German invasion.