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Anne  [Anna, Anne of Denmark]  (1574-1619), queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, consort of James VI and I, was born on 12 December 1574 at Skanderborg Castle in Jutland, Denmark. She was the second daughter of Frederick II (1534-1588), king of Denmark and Norway since 1559, and his wife, Sophia (1557-1631), the daughter of Ulric III, duke of Mecklenburg. Frederick and Sophia had seven children in all. Their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. Augusta married Duke John of Schleswig-Holstein, and Hedwig, the youngest, became the wife of the elector Christian II of Saxony. Anne had three brothers, Christian (King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway from 1588 to 1648), and Ulric and John, dukes of Schleswig-Holstein.

Childhood

Anne's childhood was happy and contented. Her early years were spent at Gustrow, the home of her grandparents, the duke and duchess of Mecklenburg, where she had the company of Elizabeth and Christian. Thereafter the family returned to Denmark to their mother's care. An unknown humanist tutor taught Anne to write in an elegant italic style. She always signed her correspondence Anna, adding an 'R' for Regina after her marriage in 1589. She was always known as Anna, queen of Scots, in Scotland and was designated Anne only by others after she became queen consort of England in 1603.

As German was the language of the Danish court, Anne was bilingual from an early age. She later learned French so as to have a common language with her new husband, James VI  (1566-1625), and his French-speaking royal court. Anne remained a skilled linguist throughout her life, and historians who depict her as a superficial queen have often overlooked this. She loved to dance and play music, but these amounted to only a small part of her much greater appreciation of the arts. Players who performed at the Danish royal court nurtured her love of theatre. Her lifelong passion for architecture also came from Denmark, where her father built opulent new palaces at Frederiksborg and Kronborg in the northern Renaissance style. As Denmark extracted tolls from all shipping passing through Oresund, financing these ventures was not burdensome. By the 1570s Denmark was, in fact, one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. Unfortunately these structures have been somewhat eclipsed by the obsessive rebuilding of Christian IV. So, far from being frivolous, Anne's childhood was aesthetic and would influence much of her later life as queen consort of Scotland and England.

Marriage negotiations

A royal marriage between James of Scotland and a Danish princess was first proposed in the early 1580s. However, rival French candidates, the thorny question of sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland, and the antagonism of Elizabeth I of England, as well as Mary, queen of Scots' continuing captivity in her realm all hindered negotiations. The Danes were willing to negotiate in 1586, but the Scots dithered as Queen Elizabeth and the influential new Scottish chancellor, Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane, favoured a match between James VI and Catherine of Navarre (sister to the Huguenot heir to the French throne, the future Henry IV). The Scots' continuing procrastination annoyed Frederick, but 1587 was a difficult year for James with the English execution of his mother. When a new Scottish embassy embarked for Denmark in 1588, there was optimism that a Danish princess would become the new queen of Scots. However, with the death of Frederick on 4 April 1588 all marriage negotiations were postponed. Before another Scottish diplomatic mission could get to Denmark the eldest princess, Elizabeth, had become engaged to the duke of Brunswick.

The Scots were disconcerted that their king could not marry the elder daughter of a king, but pressure was growing for a Scottish-Danish alliance. The merchant burgesses, for example, were keen to see their king marry a Dane in order to gain trading concessions for their ships going through Oresund. The widowed Queen Sophia was also eager and offered Princess Anne as an alternative bride. James apparently took the portraits of both candidates into his bedchamber to pray and meditate for three days. After this he chose Anne over Catherine of Navarre, though in truth the choice was not difficult for the 23-year-old king. Catherine was a mature woman of thirty, while Anne was only fourteen and already a great beauty who was very much 'in love with him that it were death to her to have it broken off'  (CSP Scot., 1589-93, 130).

In June 1589 a marriage embassy led by James's proxy, George Keith, fifth Earl Marischal, left Scotland for Denmark. Any remaining obstacles were cleared when the Danes decided not to press for the return of Orkney and Shetland. These isles had been part of the dowry of a previous Danish princess, Margaret, wife of James III of Scotland. A tocher (dowry) of 75,000 rixdollars was agreed. In 1589 this was the equivalent of 100,000 gold florins, or £150,000 Scots. On 20 August 1589 the proxy marriage ceremony took place in the great hall of Kronborg, then the largest reception room in northern Europe. The magnificence of the occasion astonished observers, and Anne's trousseau was equally impressive, requiring sixteen ships to transport it. After the celebrations Anne's flotilla set sail for Scotland on 5 September.

An ill-fated voyage to Scotland

The voyage began badly when one of the cannon saluting Anne exploded, killing two gunners. Another cannon exploded on board Anne's ship, killing the gunner and wounding several of her crew. What should then have been a relatively straightforward journey, lasting less than two weeks, turned into a nightmare for the new queen of Scots. Horrendous storms made Anne very seasick and forced her battered fleet to take refuge in the southern fjords of Norway. King James grew so 'very impatient and sorowful for hir lang delay' that he overruled his advisers and determined to set sail for Norway in search of his bride  (Melville, 369). A small fleet conveying the king and his party left for Norway on 22 October 1589. They located the Danish ships near Upslo. Upslo was rebuilt in 1624 as Christiania, having moved a few miles westwards and later became the modern Norwegian capital of Oslo. However, in 1589 it was a small town of only 8000 people and the burghers must have struggled to host both royal parties. Anne was staying in the bishop's palace and it was here, on 19 November, that she first met her husband. Royal protocol clearly differed between Denmark and Scotland for Anne was apparently rather taken aback at James's attempts to kiss her 'after the Scotis faschioun'. None the less, after a few private words together, the couple were soon sharing 'familiaritie and kisses'  (Moysie, 80-81).

James and Anne then went through a church marriage ceremony on 23 November, officiated by Mr David Lindsay, at the bishop's palace. There was merrymaking and banqueting afterwards and the next day James gave his new bride a traditional morrowing gift. This was a charter of the regality of Dunfermline, to the north of the Forth. James then intended to return to Scotland, but the weather was still bad. Meanwhile Queen Sophia had invited her new son-in-law to the Danish court, so the royal party decided to travel overland to Kronborg. They did not leave until 22 December and were accompanied for part of the way by the king of Sweden's brother, who wanted to honour the Scottish king's presence in his Scandinavian territory.

The journey was adventurous, and at times delayed by Anne's ill health. They did not arrive at Kronborg until 21 January 1590. Contrary to some reports they were not married for a third time, but the weeks that followed were certainly among the most joyous of times for the couple. During an extended honeymoon they were magnificently entertained, and for the first time in his life James enjoyed normal family life surrounded by his new brothers- and sisters-in-law. Most of the time was spent at Kronborg, but visits were also made to Copenhagen, Roskilde, Frederiksborg, and Tycho Brahe's island of Hven. The couple were persuaded to stay in Denmark until the wedding of Anne's elder sister, Elizabeth, on 19 April 1590.

The queen's welcome in Scotland

On 21 April Anne and James left Denmark and landed safely at Leith on 1 May. Although Scotland 'was never in wourse state to receave a Quene', the welcome given to Anne was impressive  (CSP Scot., 1589-93, 137). Cannon roared from distant Edinburgh Castle while James took Anne by the hand and led her to the shore along a platform covered with tapestries and cloth of gold. Anne then had to remain in Leith until Holyroodhouse was ready for her party. On 6 May, Anne's cavalcade left Leith accompanied by James, many of the Scots nobility, and 1600 others. They found Holyrood newly decorated with gold and silver cloth. Anne's coronation took place at Holyrood Abbey on 17 May, though amid the splendour of the occasion there was the first sign of friction between the queen and the reformed kirk. Presbyterian ministers objected to her anointing, though it went ahead according to traditional coronation rite. On 19 May, Anne made her official entry into Edinburgh with much pageantry. She was presented with the keys to the burgh and was enchanted by poems and elaborate decorations made in her honour. A gift of jewellery from the council was a fitting tribute for such a cultured queen.

The Scots had not had a resident queen since 1567, so Anne was feted wherever she went. The Earl Marischal and Francis Stewart, earl of Bothwell, often led her assemblage. Bothwell intrigued Anne, as he had charmed the young queen in eloquent French from her very first landing in Scotland. Anne went on a progress to Dunfermline and Falkland Palace, which were part of her jointure along with Linlithgow Palace and the earldom of Ross. Sadly amid continued celebration the queen suffered her first miscarriage in mid-September. James and Anne therefore had a fully consummated and happy marriage in 1590, which disproves theories about a reluctant state of intimacy between an allegedly homosexual king and his new queen.

Court life in the 1590s

Most of the Danish entourage that accompanied Anne to Scotland left on 26 May 1590. A few loyal servants remained until the following summer and some stayed with her for the rest of her life. Anne continued to observe her new country and learn its customs and language. Allegations were made that witches had stirred up the tempestuous seas that prevented Anne's arrival in Scotland, but the queen took no part in the witchcraft trials that obsessed her husband and much of lowland Scotland during 1591. However, by 1592 she was aware of the complexity of court faction in Scotland and began interfering in politics. The main object of her attention was the chancellor, John Maitland, now Lord Thirlestane, for Anne knew he had opposed her marriage. His wife, Dame Jean Fleming, was overheard being indiscreet about Anne within her chamber. Then, to make matters worse, Maitland began a prolonged legal battle with the queen over the lordship of Musselburgh, which was part of the regality of Dunfermline south of the Forth. The Oslo morrowing gift had specifically excluded Musselburgh, but Anne and her advisers now demanded that Maitland yield this lucrative property. He refused, but Anne appeared triumphant when James dismissed Maitland from court in March 1592. However, it was only when Danish ambassadors arrived in Scotland in May 1593 to press for full recompense for Anne's dowry that Maitland yielded a liferent of Musselburgh to the queen. Anne rode triumphantly to Musselburgh, on 20 July, to hold her first court and secure her entitlement to the lands. When Maitland was allowed to return in October 1593, his powers were diminished. Anne had to accept his presence, but could not 'hitherto well brook his wife'  (CSP Scot., 1593-5, 180).

In her early political intrigues Anne was always careful to couch her interference as aiming to help the king, and they both stoutly defended their honour in public. Anne also became an eloquent pleader before James for various causes, but she was sometimes a rather less than dutiful wife. For example, she defied James in June 1593 by going riding in bad weather, despite being in the early stages of pregnancy. By December 1593 Anne promised to concur with all her husband's actions, but only after he had given her 'the greatest part of his jewels'  (CSP Scot., 1593-5, 237). This was hardly the enforcement of patriarchal order, but it resolved their arguments for a while. James sometimes had to borrow these gems to raise money, but redeemed them as soon as possible for fear of Anne's wrath. Overall, despite their tiffs and Anne's deliberate political intrigues in Scotland, James was sincere when he said that as 'God is my witness I ever preferred you to all my bairns'  (NA Scot., GD18/1307). Considering that James was a very loving and attentive father, these were heartfelt words towards his spouse.

Anne's victory over Maitland could easily have been jeopardized by her ill-advised dalliance with the maverick earl of Bothwell. His charm disguised a pernicious streak that posed a real threat to James VI. The murder of Bothwell's ally James Stewart, earl of Moray, in 1592 should have made Anne uncomfortable. The queen had known Moray both as the brother-in-law of her confidant the Earl Marischal and as an associate of Bothwell. It was no secret that she admired Moray, and in the ballad 'The Bonny Earl of Moray' there is a suggestion that they were lovers. However, there is no contemporary evidence to suggest that they were anything more than friends. Oblivious to the danger that surrounded Bothwell and his companions, the queen continued to see him. Perhaps the near farcical situation at Holyrood in autumn 1593 sums up the queen's naivety concerning Bothwell. Anne barred her chamber door against a dishevelled James after a repentant Bothwell had confronted him. Technically Bothwell could have murdered the king on that occasion, and he continued to wreak havoc in Scotland until he was finally forfeited and banished in 1595.

Childbirth

The queen's over-familiarity with this rebel lord could have landed her in serious trouble, but during Bothwell's final manoeuvres she was fortuitously pregnant with Prince Henry [see Henry Frederick]. The prospect of Anne's carrying a child to full term at last delighted the king and he would countenance no ill words against her. Henry, duke of Rothesay, was born on 19 February 1594 at Stirling Castle to national celebration. There had been elaborate preparations for the birth, and a new household was established for the young prince. His baptism in the Chapel Royal at Stirling on 29 August 1594 was dazzling. Anne's grandfather, the duke of Mecklenburg, and her brother-in-law, the duke of Brunswick, attended along with many ambassadors. James informed Queen Sophia and the Danish council that Henry was the image of Frederick II, but he would grow up to be very like his mother in looks: tall, graceful, and blonde.

What should have been one of the happiest times for the royal couple turned very bitter when Anne realized that she could not keep the custody of her first-born. James dictated that Henry should be kept at Stirling in the charge of John Erskine, earl of Mar, and his mother, Dame Annabel Murray, just as he himself had been. They became the focus of Anne's maternal wrath, and other courtiers who opposed Mar jumped on the bandwagon to support Anne's cause. The king, paranoid about his personal safety and that of his heir, refused to be moved. Henry remained at Stirling, and trust between his parents was irrevocably damaged.

James and Anne had other children on a fairly regular basis after Henry's birth, though Anne suffered other miscarriages in between these live births. The other children were Princess Elizabeth, first daughter of Scotland, born at Dunfermline on 19 August 1596; Lady Margaret on 24 December 1598 at Dalkeith; Charles, duke of Albany, on 19 November 1600 at Dunfermline; and Robert, duke of Kintyre, also at Dunfermline on 18 January 1602. Sadly the death of Lady Margaret in August 1600 was followed by Duke Robert's on 27 May 1602. Both James and Anne were so scarred by the loss of their children that neither would attend a funeral thereafter. Once in England two more daughters were born: Princess Mary (8 April 1605) and Princess Sophia (22 June 1606). Tragedy struck once more as both these princesses died young. It was a curious quirk of fate that those born on the 19th survived beyond childhood. Elizabeth would become the queen of Bohemia, and Charles, because of Henry's death on 6 November 1612, would eventually become Charles I. James certainly believed that nineteen was his lucky number, for he too had been born on 19 June 1566 and had met Anne for the first time on 19 November 1589. Unfortunately, this luck ran out as Prince Henry would die three months before his nineteenth birthday.

Elizabeth's birth prevented James and Anne from returning to Denmark for the coronation of her brother as King Christian IV. Nevertheless Ulric, duke of Holstein, visited Scotland in spring 1598, though Anne could not participate much as she was expecting the birth of Lady Margaret. James therefore took his brother-in-law on a grand tour of the lowlands, with lavish royal banquets every evening. The costs to the Scottish nobility and exchequer were immense, but James was determined to give the Danes a good impression of Scottish hospitality. Good relations between these monarchies continued, as both Ulric and Christian IV visited Anne after she moved to England.

Anne was expecting Prince Charles when the infamous Gowrie conspiracy occurred. William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, and his brother Alexander, master of Gowrie, allegedly tried to assassinate James, but he cried out for help. Assistance came swiftly and it was the Ruthvens who died, not the king. Anne's pregnancy was fortunate, for it would appear that she had once more befriended a family who apparently endangered the life of her husband. Gowrie had impressed the queen in the early 1590s. As a mark of favour Anne took one of his sisters, Lady Beatrix, into her household as a maid of honour. Anne and Beatrix became good friends, so when the conspiracy unfolded there were ugly rumours about Anne's involvement in the affair. None of these slanders were true, but Anne found herself in a very awkward situation after the surviving Ruthvens were banished. She was reluctant to let Beatrix Ruthven leave her household, and even when she was forced to expel her they remained in contact, contrary to the king's wishes.

By 1600 Anne's heightened sense of the royal prerogative was well developed. Those who offended her were never again admitted to her presence, with the notable exception of the king himself. Anyone who pleased the queen was guaranteed her favour. This was why she reluctantly parted with Beatrix Ruthven, for Anne's household was close-knit and she disliked any interference in its make-up. This had not been so in her early years, when James appointed many of her household officials from his trusted lairds and nobility. Although these appointments were intended to make Anne acclimatize to her new country, they put her in contact with known Catholics, such as the earl and countess of Huntly, Alexander, Lord Seton, Lord and Lady Livingston, and William Schaw, master of works. They had a profound influence upon the young queen, who had been brought up as a Lutheran.

A change of religion

When Anne first arrived in Scotland she was nominally a Lutheran, and the Scots had agreed to let her continue in this faith. She did not attend some public sermons in the first few years, but from 1593 she began to display Catholic inclinations in private. She abstained from attending public worship, preferring private household ceremonies. At first these probably alternated between Catholic and Lutheran services, but became more Catholic towards the mid-1590s. In 1596 the general assembly of the Church of Scotland criticized the royal family for having too many Catholics in their company, and the queen was singled out for 'not repairing to the word and sacraments, night-waking and balling'; they were of the clear opinion that her religious practice and lifestyle needed 'to be reformit'  (Acts and Proceedings, 3.873). When prominent ministers went to court to confront Anne about her ungodly behaviour, she refused to see them as she 'was at the dancing'  (Calderwood, 5.460). David Black, minister at St Andrews, then preached a vociferous sermon stating that 'as for the quene we most also pray for hir for the fassioun, bot we have na caus to pray for hir: scho will nevir do us gude'  (CSP Scot., 1595-7, 368). It is perhaps unremarkable that Anne turned away from cold Calvinism towards the warmth she found among her Catholic friends, though her Lutheran pastor John Sering continued to preach to the Danes in her household.

Henrietta Stewart, countess of Huntly, was instrumental in Anne's conversion to Catholicism. A Counter-Reformation Catholic, the countess was a cousin of the king and thus had some protection from the kirk's jurisdiction. She was chief lady of Anne's household from November 1590 onwards, and gave her a Catholic catechism in French. As a loyal friend and confidante Henrietta attended all the royal births and baptisms as chief gossip. It is unclear whether James knew about Anne's Catholic leanings in 1593, but he was tolerant of Catholicism. He later exploited his wife's religious adherence when negotiating with Catholic interests in Scotland and Rome. When Dunfermline became Anne's preferred residence, she surrounded herself with Catholic friends. Her master of works, William Schaw, extended the palace to accommodate all her household. Schaw also built Anne a 'queen's house' and created an oratory for her privy chamber.

The last years in Scotland

Anne was a powerful influence upon Scottish court culture. Dunfermline was a truly cultural centre that allowed the queen to experiment with new architecture and to patronize musicians, players, and poets. Anne fully developed these interests in England after 1603, when more money was available, but they have their roots in her Danish childhood and Scottish years. Scotland probably could not afford to put on elaborate masques, and if the king and queen had done so, they would have been criticized by the presbyterians. Anne advanced the arts to the best of her financial ability. Moreover, her legendary love of jewellery was both aesthetic and political: Anne knew that jewels were an embodiment of regal power, as well as being useful for loans, tokens, and gifts.

Good living led to Anne's running up debts after several years in Scotland. However, it was she, not James, who was first to put her finances in good order thanks to the efforts of a group of eight courtiers known subsequently as the Octavians. As a result of their judicious financial management Anne was able to give James a new year gift of £1000 in 1596. James was so impressed that he appointed the Octavians to sort out his debts. Unfortunately, the good measures enacted by the Octavians did not last. By 1598 James and Anne were spending more money than they had and were forced to take out many loans during the rest of their time in Scotland. They were probably anticipating their succession to the lucrative English throne upon the death of Queen Elizabeth for several years before her actual death, on 24 March 1603.

The union of the crowns

When her husband acceded to the throne of England, Anne was pregnant. Anne and James apparently agreed that he would travel to London without her while arrangements were made for her to make the long journey later, accompanied by their two elder children, Henry and Elizabeth. From an eyewitness account written by Thomas Hamilton, lord advocate of Scotland, it emerges that Anne spent April putting her affairs and household in order and awaiting the return of John Erskine, earl of Mar, Henry's guardian, from England. Anne claimed that the king advised that this would be before 20 April. However, all went awry when the earl did not return as expected and it was rumoured that he might not even do so by 15 May, the date appointed for his mother's burial. This delay pushed the queen to take matters into her own hands.

Three days after the official party of Englishwomen appointed to meet their new queen at Berwick set off from London, Anne decided to ride to Stirling Castle to see the prince. She did not do so without warning. According to Hamilton, she asked his tutor, Adam Newton, to advise the countess of Mar of her intended visit. Visiting her daughter at Linlithgow on the way, she arrived at Stirling Castle on 7 May, accompanied by Patrick Stewart, earl of Orkney, and 'very few of hir Majesty's own servants' (including Jane Drummond, who accompanied her to England as 'first lady' of her bedchamber). Anne's desire to take Henry with her before Mar's return was not made generally known until two days after her arrival. It was a desire which apparently went against 'earnist advyss in the contrarie', and a promise to the lord president, Alexander Seton, Lord Fyvie, and Hamilton not to do so at that time. The queen's desire encountered resistance from the countess of Mar, who remained resolute despite Anne's persistence. At dinner the queen became sick, fainted, and not long afterwards miscarried. Anne apparently hastened the miscarriage by taking some 'balme watter'  (Fraser, 2.209-11).

Mar finally arrived the following evening, but for a time the situation worsened. Letters and messengers from both parties were sent post-haste to the king in England. Although James was reportedly pleased with Mar's action and angry with his wife, the situation was finally resolved in the queen's favour. According to Hamilton, Ludovick Stewart, duke of Lennox, arrived at Stirling with a letter, a jewel, and the long-desired and sought-after commission to deliver the prince to his mother. On 23 May the Scottish privy council was at Stirling to advise on proceedings and four days later the queen left for Edinburgh with her son. Anne left Edinburgh triumphantly with Henry and Elizabeth on 1 June 1603, gathering an ever-increasing retinue of English ladies and gentlemen as she journeyed south, never to return.

Continuing Catholicism

On 30 June Anne arrived in Windsor, where formal ceremonial homage was paid to her by a large gathering of English noblewomen. Anne and James were crowned together on 25 July, St James's day, at Westminster Abbey. Anne's refusal to take the Anglican communion on this occasion was the only public statement of her 'secret' Roman Catholicism. As 'one of Jacobean England's consummate church papists'  (McCullough, 170), she attended protestant services and sermons, maintaining protestant chaplains and preachers while privately practising her Roman Catholic faith, a practice common in Scotland and England and tacitly sanctioned by the Catholic mission. Anne nevertheless apparently paid a private price for her church papistry. According to the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, in 1617, her Catholic priests often withheld communion and absolution from her.

As Anne was obliged to continue practising her private faith in 'secret', she did not attract or encourage a large number of Catholics to gather around her; her small enclave of intimate Roman Catholic bedchamber attendants served the purpose well. Anne's Scottish Catholic first lady, Jane Drummond, later countess of Roxburghe, in particular, facilitated the queen's private practice of Catholicism. Her intimate and constant service in the bedchamber was undoubtedly strongly influential in maintaining the queen in that faith. Priests were apparently concealed at court as Jane's 'servants': Alonso de Velasco, another Spanish ambassador, reported in 1611 that 'Mass was being said by a Scottish priest, who was simply called a "servant" of [the queen's] lady-in-waiting, Lady Drummond'  (Loomie, 308).

Anne of Denmark's secret Catholicism meant that her religious patronage was limited. She had a full complement of protestant chaplains and preachers in her household, including a Danish Lutheran chaplain, Johannes Seringius, who had been in her service since her marriage. However, service as a chaplain to Anne was a road neither to higher royal service nor to promotion within the church: only two, perhaps three, of her chaplains went on to serve the king after her death. Likewise she attracted only a few dedications of religious works-from royal chaplains and Catholic priests.

Childbirth and tragedy

Anne's early years in England were spent in summer progresses around the countryside, in developing her cultural interests, in giving birth to two daughters in quick succession-Mary on 8 April 1605 and Sophia on 22 June 1606-and in recovering from the grief of their early deaths, Sophia within twenty-four hours of her birth, Mary in September 1607, Anne having visited her several times at night during her final sickness. In these years Anne was visited by her brothers, Ulric, duke of Holstein, and Christian IV, king of Denmark. Ulric arrived on 22 November 1604 and stayed until 1 June 1605, during which time his niece Mary was born and christened. Christian IV arrived on 16 July 1606, shortly after the birth and death of Sophia and stayed almost a month. He surprised his sister with a second brief visit in July 1614.

Anne was grief-stricken at Prince Henry's sudden death in November 1612: according to the newsletter writer John Chamberlain, she refused to attend Charles's creation as prince of Wales in November 1616 in case that grief was renewed. However, the Venetian ambassador reported in December 1618 that she was 'passionately attached ... to [Charles] above all her other children, calling him her little servant'  (CSP Venice, 1617-19, 392-3). Anne took an active interest in her daughter Elizabeth's education, purchasing books for her, some in Italian, a language in which Anne had a particular interest.

Anne's character

Anne took great pride in her Danish and Habsburg descent (Elizabeth, wife of Christian II of Denmark, was sister to the Holy Roman emperor Charles V). That she was the 'daughter, sister, and wife of a king'  (CSP Venice, 1617-19, 392) continued to give her a keen sense of her royal status, which she now extended even to her brother Ulric. During his long sojourn in England in 1606 he made the mistake of assuming that he could 'go into the queen's rooms whenever he chose'  (CSP Venice, 1603-7, 248). For the last two months of his visit she refused to speak to him.

Tendencies that were apparent in Scotland surfaced again in 1607, when the Venetian ambassador reported that she was 'full of kindness for those who support her, but on the other hand she is terrible, proud, unendurable to those she dislikes'  (CSP Venice, 1603-7, 513). In matters which touched her sense of 'honour' as a queen, in particular, she continued to be unbending; her own view was that 'honour goes before life, I must ever think'  (Letters to King James, no. 5). Thus her dislike of the lord privy seal, Henry Howard, earl of Northampton, probably originated in a 'bitter exchange' between them in 1607, in which he remarked that 'she was only the best subject, yet no less a subject than I'  (Somerset, 121). In September 1607 Rowland Whyte reported that Northampton, 'after some bitter disgrace, reconciled himself to the Queen Majesty's good opinion and favour'  (Lodge, 3.202). But the old enmity resurfaced in their battle over the keepership of Greenwich Park in the early 1610s. After Christian IV's second brief visit in 1614 Chamberlain remarked on the whisper that if Northampton 'had lived [Christian IV] would have complained of some hard and irreverent usage and speeches toward ... his sister'  (Letters of John Chamberlain, 1.553). The enforced 'retirement' of her 'first lady', Jane Drummond, in 1617 also stemmed ostensibly from what Anne perceived to be an affront to her honour. Jane had kept from her royal mistress the fact that her husband, Robert Ker, first earl of Roxburghe, had gone behind the queen's back to secure the chamberlainship of Prince Charles's household.

Furthermore, Anne's implacable stance against Sir Thomas Overbury was based as much on his allegedly insolent behaviour towards her as his intimacy with her husband's favourite, Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, whom she actively disliked. Her dislike for Somerset may also have influenced her decision, after much importuning, to lend active support to the scheme of Archbishop George Abbot and other courtiers to replace Somerset in the king's affections with George Villiers, later duke of Buckingham. With a theatrical flourish, much appreciated by her husband, she arranged to have young Villiers knighted by James in her bedchamber, and made a gentleman of the bedchamber. Anne had no illusions, however, reputedly remarking to Abbot that, despite their collective efforts on Villiers's behalf, the 'King will teach him to despise and hardly intreat us all, that he may seem to be beholden to none but himself'  (Rushworth, 1.456).

Although Anne appeared to have little influence on her husband after 1603, she had one significant victory. In 1609 she successfully interceded (at the persuasion of Jane Drummond, his kinswoman) to save the life of the secretary of state for Scotland, James Elphinstone, first Lord Balmerino. Balmerino was sentenced to death for allegedly having falsely obtained the king's signature on a letter to the Pope in 1598. And, although Anne now confined her political activities in the main to dynastic matches for her children, she took a direct interest in the scandal of the Corona regia, a verse satire published in 1615 which impugned her husband's honour as a monarch. It was then believed to have been written by Dr Puteanus, a scholar at Louvain in the Spanish Netherlands. Concerned that the good relations between the two countries would be damaged as a result, Anne wrote to the joint governor of that country, the Archduchess Isabella, and to the archduke's ambassador, requesting that action be taken against him. Anne's interest in foreign affairs is further indicated by her request to the English ambassador in France, Sir Thomas Edmondes, in 1617 to maintain a correspondence with her to keep her informed 'of such things ... as you think will not be eyther unpleasing or unfitting for us to understand'  (BL, Stowe MS 176, fol. 116).

Matchmaking

Anne's Catholicism and pride in her Habsburg descent were important factors in the keen interest she took in the various dynastic matches proposed for her children with European Catholic ducal and royal families. As early as 1604, during the visit of the constable of Castile to London for the signing of the Anglo-Spanish peace treaty, Anne 'secretly brought forward a scheme for the marriage of her son, Prince Henry' with the Spanish infanta, Anne  (Gardiner, 103). As the reign progressed, ambassadors from various Catholic states in Europe sought to discuss various marriage proposals for Henry, Elizabeth, and Charles with the queen, or to use Jane Drummond as a confidential conduit for this purpose. In 1610, for instance, Anne was reported to be 'much inclined' towards a match between her daughter and the prince of Savoy  (CSP Venice, 1610-13, 73-4). James overrode his wife's desire for a Catholic match for Elizabeth, who was betrothed to the protestant elector palatine of the Rhine on 27 December 1612. Anne, who probably also wanted a more exalted marriage, was 'noted to have geven no great grace nor favor to this match'  (Letters of John Chamberlain, 1.404), but was eventually won round and attended the wedding on 14 February 1613.

After the death of Prince Henry in November 1612 Anne's attention turned to finding a suitable wife for Prince Charles-Tuscan, Savoyard, French, and Spanish matches all being mooted at this time. Anne met the various ambassadors and discussed the proposed matches with them either directly or through Jane Drummond. Between 1614 and her death in March 1619 Anne's support oscillated between a Spanish and a French match for Charles. Sir John Digby, the English ambassador to Spain, and Jane Drummond (both supporters of a Spanish match) were among the significant casualties of her sudden change of heart against a Spanish match in 1617. One possible influence on her volte-face was her brother, Christian IV, who opposed a Spanish match for his nephew, another her French Catholic bedchamber page, who had replaced Jane Drummond as the queen's confidante. Anne was clear-sighted about the true intentions of the Spaniards; that the proposed marriage was a pretence in order 'to benefit their affairs'  (CSP Venice, 1617-19, 207). However, by December 1618 the Venetian ambassador reported that she was once again 'very anxious for [Charles] to marry in Spain, and does her utmost to that end; she hates a French marriage and opposes it openly'  (ibid., 393).

Cultural influences

Deeply interested in a wide range of cultural pursuits, Anne was a significant and sophisticated patron. She played a major role in the development of the court masque, the principal cultural form of the early Stuart court, perhaps initially under the influence of Lucy Russell, countess of Bedford, a lady of her bedchamber, herself the most prominent female literary patron of the period. Between 1604 and 1611 Anne commissioned and performed in six glittering masques at Hampton Court and Whitehall. Two of these masques were written by Samuel Daniel and four by Ben Jonson. Most were designed by Inigo Jones, who was later employed by the queen on architectural projects: a new gateway at Oatlands Palace, Surrey, and the innovative Queen's House at Greenwich, completed for her daughter-in-law, Henrietta Maria. Continuing her 'interest in the most up-to-date architectural ideas from the continent' she also improved her apartments at Greenwich Palace after it was formally granted to her by the king in 1613  (Bold, 44) and had major building work carried out at her London palace, Somerset (later Denmark) House, in the Strand, from 1609.

Anne established an extensive art collection, housed at her palaces of Oatlands, Greenwich, and Denmark House, which, together with that of Prince Henry, reached its zenith under Charles I. No mere accumulator of pictures, she had a genuine interest in her collection. Chided by the earl of Salisbury for this interest, she made a spirited response, through Jane Drummond, that she was 'most contented amongst those hermles pictures in the paltry Gallery, then [he was] with [his] greate imployments'  (TNA: PRO, SP 14/67/79). As the end of her life approached, she took spiritual comfort from the religious pictures; several such paintings were transferred at her request from Oatlands and hung in her gallery at Hampton Court, where she was confined during her final illness.

Anne's great love of music was noted by Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador: her 'chief pleasure is dancing and music', he wrote to Philip III in 1613, 'and she passes many hours each day in this way'  (Documentos ineditos, 3.58). Ambassadors were treated to concerts performed by her musicians during their audiences with her. Anne had a considerable establishment of musicians and composers-five French, one Italian, four Danish (sent by her brother Christian IV of Denmark), and a number of others, including lutenists, violinists, trumpeters, and a harper, fifer, and drummer. She herself played the lute, lyra viol, and the virginals, and appears to have been 'actively involved in the development of the lyra viol' as well  (Hulse, 101).

Anne maintained her active interest in other cultural pursuits, namely literary patronage, the Italian language, and the theatre. She commissioned or encouraged the writing of specific works and provided monetary rewards to writers who dedicated works to her, presented her with books and poems, or who were financially straitened. While Anne was neither scholar, poet, nor translator, she had a sizeable book collection and was keenly interested in languages, especially Italian. She engaged a tutor in Italian, John Florio, and in 1611 he dedicated a new version of his Italian-English dictionary, Queene Annes New World of Words, to her. She also had her own company of players who performed at court and elsewhere, and a company of child actors, the Children of the Revels to the Queen. In 1615 she successfully mediated with the king, on behalf of Samuel Daniel, for James 'to appoint a company of youths to perform comedies and tragedies at Bristol, under the name of the Youths of Her Majesty's Royal Chamber of Bristol'  (CSP dom., 1611-18, 294).

Illness and death

The last few years of Anne's life were marked by failing health. In 1612 the royal physician, Sir Theodore de Mayerne, diagnosed her as suffering from an ulcerated leg, gout, and flowing menses (notably, one of the paintings in her book chamber at Oatlands depicted Christ healing the woman with the bloody issue). Anne may have suffered from gynaecological problems from the birth of her last child, a possible factor in the cessation of pregnancies after 1606 and in the distance that developed thereafter in her relationship with James. This may have contributed to her husband's increasing infatuation with male favourites from 1609, although the couple remained on affectionate terms.

Anne sought cures at various spas, visiting Bath twice in 1613 and again in 1615, and taking a long cure at the baths at Greenwich that year. Dropsy was a real danger by April 1615. From September 1618 she was too ill to leave Hampton Court, and she died there-of consumption and dropsy-in the early hours of 2 March 1619. Her entrails were taken for burial to Westminster on 5 March. On 9 March her body was conveyed to Denmark House, where it lay in state until her funeral in Westminster Abbey, which took place on 13 May, in form and scale comparable to that of Queen Elizabeth. She was buried in Henry VII's chapel, but unlike her infant daughters, Mary and Sophia, no tomb was erected for her.

Historical significance

Anne of Denmark has not been well treated by historians. For instance, Maurice Lee commented in 1959 that 'she was not an interesting woman. She had no particular distinction of mind or spirit. She showed occasional neurotic tendencies, she enjoyed intrigue, she was stupid, and she bore grudges'  (Lee, 204). D. H. Willson called her 'frivolous to the last' in his once standard text on James VI and I, where the queen is typically indexed as just 'Anne, queen of England', rather than of Britain  (Willson, 403). In 1980 Maurice Ashley noted Anne as 'a dumb blonde' who 'had neither the brains nor the education to satisfy the Scottish Solomon'  (M. Ashley, The House of Stuart: its Rise and Fall, 1980, 116). These negative images of Anne persist among some contemporary historians such as Michael Lynch, who referred to Anne as a 'largely anonymous figure' who 'made little impact on the very masculine Scottish court'  (M. Lynch, Scotland: a New History, 1991, 233). These images of a frivolous, empty-headed meddler are clearly erroneous. Recent scholarship by Leeds Barroll, David Bergeron, Maureen Meikle, Helen Payne, and Thomas Riis, among others, has revealed Anne to be a more intelligent, interesting, and significant figure at both the Scottish and English royal courts than has previously been recognized. However, much modern literary scholarship has overemphasized the queen's role in promoting and performing court masques. This approach obscures the true extent of her other cultural, intellectual, and political interests. Anne was culturally more sophisticated than her husband, and her advancement of music, art, and architecture in Scotland and England should never be underestimated.

Maureen M. Meikle 

Helen Payne 

Sources  NA Scot., E21-E24, E31, E34, E35, GD18, GD24, GD124, GD421 + state papers domestic, TNA: PRO, SP14 + state papers Scotland, TNA: PRO, SP52 + state papers borders, TNA: PRO, SP59 + state papers Spanish Netherlands, TNA: PRO, State Paper Office, SP77 + TNA: PRO, SC6/JasI/1648, E315/107 + E. Sussex RO, Glynde MSS, 314-15, 319-20 + BL, Add. MS 19969, Stowe MS 176 + Danish National Archives, Copenhagen, TKUA Speciel del Skotland AI/1 and 2, AII/3, 4, and 5, TKUA Speciel del England AI/2, AII/7 + Calendar of the manuscripts of the most hon. the marquis of Salisbury, 24 vols., HMC, 9 (1883-1976) + Report on the manuscripts of the marquis of Downshire, 6 vols. in 7, HMC, 75 (1924-95) + J. T. Gibson-Craig, ed., Papers relative to the marriage of King James the sixth of Scotland and the Princess Anna of Denmark AD 1590, Bannatyne Club (1828) + CSP Scot., 1586-1603 + Calendar of letters and papers relating to the affairs of the borders of England and Scotland, ed. J. Bain, 2 vols. (1894-6) + CSP dom., 1603-19 + CSP for. + G. Burnett and others, eds., The exchequer rolls of Scotland, 23 vols. (1878-1908) + CSP Venice, 1603-19 + Scots peerage + D. Calderwood, The history of the Kirk of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson and D. Laing, 8 vols., Wodrow Society, 7 (1842-9) + D. Moysie, Memoirs of the affairs of Scotland, 1577-1603, ed. J. Dennistoun, Bannatyne Club, 39 (1830) + J. Nichols, The progresses, processions, and magnificent festivities of King James I, his royal consort, family and court, 4 vols. (1828) + Memoirs of his own life by Sir James Melville of Halhill, ed. T. Thomson, Bannatyne Club, 18 (1827) + J. Spottiswoode, History of the Church of Scotland, ed. M. Napier and M. Russell, 3 vols., Spottiswoode Society, 6 (1847-51) + T. Thomson, ed., Acts and proceedings of the general assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, 3 pts, Bannatyne Club, 81 (1839-45) + Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, ed. P. Walker and A. Macdonald, Maitland Club, 35 (1835) + H. M. Payne, 'Aristocratic women and the Jacobean court, 1603-1625', PhD diss., U. Lond., 2001 + E. Carleton Williams, Anne of Denmark (1970) + M. M. Meikle, '"Holde her at the oeconomicke rule of the house": Anna of Denmark and Scottish court finances, 1589-1603', Women in Scotland, c.1100-c.1750, ed. E. Ewan and M. M. Meikle (1999), 105-11 + M. M. Meikle, 'A meddlesome princess: Anna of Denmark and Scottish court politics, 1589-1603', The reign of James VI, ed. J. Goodare and M. Lynch (2000), 126-40 + D. Stevenson, Scotland's last royal wedding (1997) [includes trans. of the Danish account of the wedding of Anna and James] + L. Wood, 'The portraits of Anne of Denmark', MA diss., U. Lond., 1981 + W. Fraser, Memorials of the earls of Haddington, 2 vols. (1889) + A. Somerset, Unnatural murder: poison at the court of King James (1997) + P. E. McCullough, Sermons at court: politics and religion in Elizabethan and Jacobean preaching (1998) [incl. CD-ROM] + Documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana: correspondencia oficial de Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, conde de Gondomar, 1 (Madrid, 1936) + Documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana: correspondencia oficial de Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuna, conde de Gondomar, 3, ed. A. Ballesteros Beretta (Madrid, 1944) + A. J. Loomie, 'King James I's Catholic consort', Huntington Library Quarterly, 34 (Aug 1971), 303-16 + The memoirs of Sir Robert Carey, ed. F. H. Maresh (1972) + F. Francisco de Jesus, El hecho de los tratados del matrimonio pretendido por el principe de Gales con la serenissima infante de Espana, Maria / Narrative of the Spanish marriage treaty, ed. and trans. S. R. Gardiner, CS, 101 (1869) + The letters of John Chamberlain, ed. N. E. McClure, 2 vols. (1939) + E. Lodge, ed., Illustrations of British history, biography, and memoirs, in the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, and James I, 2nd edn, 3 vols. (1838) + J. Rushworth, Historical collections ... 1616 ... 1629 (1659), pt 1; repr. (1969) + J. Browne, Theo. Turquet Mayernii equitis aurati medici et philosophi suo aevo perplurime celeberrimi opera medica complectentia consilia, epistolas et observationes pharmacopeam, variasque medicamentorum formulas (1700) + A. Ashbee, ed., Records of English court music, 4 (1991) + F. B. Williams, Index of dedications and commendatory verses in English books before 1641 (1962) + J. Bold, Greenwich: an architectural history of the Royal Hospital for Seamen and the Queen's House (2000) + L. Hulse, review article, Music and Letters, 73/1 (1992), 101 + M. Lee Jr, John Maitland of Thirlestane and the foundation of Stewart despotism in Scotland (1959) + D. H. Willson, King James VI and I (1955) + T. Riis, Should auld acquaintance be forgot ... Scottish-Danish relations, c.1450-1707, 2 vols. (1988) + L. Barroll, 'The court of the first Stuart queen', The mental world of the Jacobean court, ed. L. L. Peck (1991), 192-9 + D. Bergeron, Royal family, royal lovers (1991) + D. Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's jewellery inventory', Archaeologia, 109 (1991), 193-238 + D. Williamson, Debrett's kings and queens of Europe (1988)
Archives Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, letters and papers + NRA Scotland, priv. coll., letters
Likenesses  attrib. A. Vanson, oils, 1595, Scot. NPG; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 3 · attrib. J. de Critz, oils, c.1603-1605, NMM; repro. in R. Quarm, 'A new portrait of Queen Anne of Denmark', Maritime Year Book [National Maritime Museum], 11 (1996-7) · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1604-1605, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 22a · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1609-1610, Berkeley collection, Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 22b · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1610, Royal Collection; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 23 · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1611, V&A; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 24a · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1611, repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 24c; priv. coll.; Christies 27 March 1953, lot 25 · attrib. M. Gheeraerts the younger, oils, c.1611-1614, Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire; repro. in K. Hearn, ed., Dynasties: painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630 (1995), pl. 130 [exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London, 12 Oct 1995-7 Jan 1996] · attrib. M. Gheeraerts the younger, oils on panel, c.1612, NPG; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 15 · I. Oliver, miniature, c.1612, NPG; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 22c · W. Cure, statue, c.1614-1615, Trinity Cam. · N. Hilliard, miniature, c.1615-1617?, Royal Collection; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 25c; Christies 27 March 1953, lot 25 · S. van de Passe, line engraving, 1616, repro. in A. M. Hind, Engraving in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 2: the reign of James I (1975), pl. 145 · P. van Somer, oils, 1617, Royal Collection [see illus.] · miniature, 1617?, FM Cam.; repro. in Princely magnificence: court jewels of the Renaissance, 1500-1630 (1980), 86, no. 118 [exhibition catalogue, V&A, 15 Oct 1980-1 Feb 1981]; Christies 27 March 1953, lot 25 · N. Hilliard, miniature, c.1617-1618?, priv. coll.; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 25d; Christies 27 March 1953, lot 25 · P. Van Somer, oils, 1617-18, Royal Collection; repro. in O. Millar, The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian pictures in the collection of her majesty the queen, 2 (1963), pl. 44 · M. Colt, bust, 1619 (remains of funeral effigy), Westminster Abbey; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 26 · line engraving, c.1619 (Anne of Denmark, recumbent on her tomb), repro. in A. M. Hind, Engraving in England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 2: the reign of James I (1975), pl. 31 · attrib. H. Knieper, oils (of Anne aged nine?), Nationalhistoriske Museum, Frederiksborg, Denmark; repro. in Williams, Anne of Denmark, facing p. 24 · I. Oliver, miniature, Royal Collection; repro. in Wood, 'Portraits of Anne of Denmark', pl. 24b · oils (after P. Van Somer), NPG · oils, Scot. NPG · tracing (after miniature by I. Oliver, c.1610), V&A · watercolour, Scot. NPG



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