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One advantage that the filles du roi had was a choice in who they married. In 17th-century France, this certainly would not be the norm – arranged marriages were. Given the gender imbalance in the colony, these young women could essentially choose their husbands. And they did, quickly.

It was reported that in 1670, most of the girls who had arrived the previous year, 1669, were already pregnant and by 1671, a total of nearly 700 children were born to the filles du roi.

One advantage that the filles du roi had was a choice in who they married. In 17th-century France, this certainly would not be the norm – arranged marriages were. Given the gender imbalance in the colony, these young women could essentially choose their husbands. And they did, quickly.

The Filles du Roi, or King's Daughters, had one mission: populate the colony of New France. From 1663 to 1673, these 800 or so women were shipped from France under the financial sponsorship of King Louis XIV to find male suitors and start families in one of the nation's most geographically significant colonies.

Sickness was prevalent on these ships and some Filles du Roi died on board. For those left, it had to take grit to keep their wits about them in those unsanitary and horrifying conditions. Even after they had built their life in New France with a husband, life was still grim with surviving the wilderness.

The king's advisor, Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, sent the “Filles du Roi” as an incentive for male workers who had finished their contract and soldiers of the Carignan-Salières regiment (which had just been demobilized) to settle in the colony.

More than half of the new immigrants settled in and around the town of Québec, and the others, in the Montréal and Trois-Rivières regions. The average age of the young women who immigrated during this period was 24; most were penniless orphans, and several came from the Paris region.

Those chosen to be among the filles du roi and allowed to emigrate to New France were held to scrupulous standards, which were based on their "moral calibre" and whether they were physically fit enough to survive the hard work demanded by life as a colonist.