The King's Daughters is a term used to refer to the approximately 800 young French women who immigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 as part of a program sponsored by King Louis XIV. The program was designed to boost New France's population both by encouraging Frenchmen to move to the New World, and by promoting marriage, family formation, and the birth of French children in the colony. The term refers to those women and girls who were recruited by the government and whose travel to the colony was paid for by the king. They were also occasionally known as the King's Wards.
Sign in Dieppe, France, commemorating the departure of many filles du roi from that port.
The Arrival of the French Girls at Quebec, 1667. Watercolour by Charles William Jefferys
New France was the territory colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spain in 1763 under the Treaty of Paris.
Champlain's Habitation c. 1608
One group of King's Daughters arrives at Quebec, 1667
Jean Talon, count of Orsainville, first intendant of New France
Company of New France building in present-day Quebec City