Anne of Denmark – even the name historians use to popularly refer to the queen consort of James VI and I of Scotland, England, and Ireland is a misnomer. History has not been kind to the woman known for most of her life as Anne of Denmark. Since the time her husband took the English throne, men who disliked Anna’s influence and James’s inheritance started rewriting Anna’s story, beginning with Anglicising her name to Anne. Unfortunately, Anna’s history was buried under anti-Stuart anti-Scottish sentiments in England that would continue in the decades following her death. Her son lost his throne in the English Civil War, and although her grandson would regain it, within nearly a hundred years of Anna’s passing, the Stuarts no longer reigned. Winners write history, and Anna’s family did not win. Her reputation was easily sacrificed as a new royal dynasty looked to further decry the old, and Anna was reduced to a caricature of a timid, silly, superfluous queen.
Few historians bothered to challenge the predominant image of Anna that emerged following her death, and so she has remained confined to the recesses of histories of her husband’s reign. Maurice Ashley’s work on the Stuart’s calls her a “dumb blond”, a sentiment that echoes William Lloyd McElwee’s assessment of Anna as a woman of “very little intelligence” whose “placid stupidity” meant “the more remote she was kept from politics the better.” Unfortunately these mens’ misogynistic and overly-simplistic assessments of Anna’s character were not isolated, and within historical records her negative reputation solidified. She became Queen Anne, the frivolous, unintelligent woman who made a mess of politics when she bothered to meddle with them. Queen Anne whose husband often preferred the company of his male favourites. Queen Anne whose character became so passive and one-dimensional she was hardly worth mentioning at all. But Anna of Denmark was a political force in her own right, intelligent, quick-witted, and utterly determined. Anna understood how to use her royal influence to chart her own course. It has taken the rise of gender history, the reconsidering of the role of queen consorts, and a deeper understanding of Scottish politics to uncover this other side of Anna’s life. Utilising work in this vein by historians like Maureen Meikle, Susan Dunn-Hensley, and Amy Juhala as well as the letters the flooded in and out of the Scottish court during Anna’s time there, this article contributes to revising Anne to tell the story of Anna, Queen of Scotland.
A Princess Meets a King
Anna was born in Denmark in 1574 at Skanderborg Castle. Her father was King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway and her mother, Sophia, was the daughter of a German Duke. She was the second eldest daughter of her parents' seven children. She would spend her early life in Germany with her maternal grandparents before returning to Denmark where she received a humanist education, learning German, Danish, and French. Her father’s court was a cultural centre known for its Northern Renaissance architecture, theatre, and music, providing Anna the privilege of a culturally rich childhood. Growing up surrounded by elaborate culture had a lasting impact on Anna who would go on to utilise masques, celebrations, and culture as political tools, especially in England. Anna would also remain forever proud of her Danish heritage and the fact that she was the daughter, sister, and later the wife of a king. Anna grew up with a strong sense of her royal prerogative and place in the world, and this would only grow with time as she became a confident young queen.
The first mention of a marriage between Anna and James appear in documents in 1588. James was 22 and had been King of Scotland since 1567, when at only a year-old, his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots was forced to abdicate by rebelling Scottish lords. There were earlier negotiations for a Danish match between James and Anna’s elder sister, Elizabeth, but these were complicated by Anglo-Scottish-French politics that saw Catherine of Navarre proposed as an opposing match. James’s cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England favoured the match with Catherine because it allowed her to show English support for French Protestants during civil unrest caused by deep religious divides in France. Meanwhile, Elizabeth faced increased pressure from her advisors to execute James’s mother Mary, who was continually being implicated in Catholic plots to seize the English throne. Elizabeth finally relented in 1586, reluctantly signing Mary’s execution warrant, sparking a period of unrest between Scotland and England that stalled James’s marriage negotiations. Eventually, tempers cooled, and James could look for a wife again, but by that time, Anna’s elder sister Elizabeth had been promised to the Duke of Brunswick, and Denmark offered Anna as a match instead.
It is rumoured that James prayed over who to take as a wife for three days. In the end, the 23-year-old Scottish King chose the 14-year-old Danish Princess over the 30-year-old Princess of Navarre. Perhaps, however, James was praying for forgiveness from his first lover, the recently deceased Earl of Lennox whom many argue James had a romantic relationship with at as young as 13. Not only was Anna younger, and reportedly more beautiful than Catherine, but a Danish alliance brought James distinct advantages his French match lacked. Denmark, like Scotland, was a Protestant nation in a time of deep religious divide throughout Europe. Denmark also controlled important shipping lanes Scottish merchants hoped to gain access to, not to mention Denmark had never fully revoked their claim on the Orkney and Shetland islands granted to Scotland as part of the Danish Princess Margaret’s dowry when she had married James III in 1469. Alongside a sizeable dowry, Anna and James’s marriage contract finally saw Denmark declare both islands part of Scotland. The marriage was a victory for Scotland, and finally in August of 1589 Anna married James by proxy in a lavish ceremony at Kronborg Castle. Unfortunately, Anna’s voyage to join her new husband would prove ill-fated, with storms forcing her fleet of ships to take refuge near Oslo, Norway. James, impatient to meet his new wife, ignored the warnings of his advisors and sailed to Norway to bring Anna to Scotland. Nearly four months after their marriage by proxy, James found Anna’s fleet and the two finally met. They would marry for a second time a few days later to more banqueting and gift giving, with James granting Anna the charter to Dunfermline Abby as a wedding present.
By all contemporary accounts, the two quickly became an affectionate, intimate pair. Any journey back to Scotland was delayed once more due to weather, and in late December the two instead travelled back to the Danish court at Kronborg. There they spent an extended honeymoon where James, an only child, got to experience living as a part of Anna’s large family. The period was joyous and harmonious with the couple spending nearly all their time together enjoying lavish entertainment. It was not until April 21st 1590 that Anna and James would travel back to Scotland, landing in Leith, just outside of Edinburgh on May 1st to an elaborate welcome ceremony. Anna was anointed as Queen of Scotland on May 17th at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Abbey. She brought immediate change to the Scottish court which had not had a queen living in its borders since the ill-fated reign of Anna’s mother-in-law. Anna restricted access to James’s bedchamber, frustrating many courtiers who had grown used to unlimited access to their “child” King even now that he was in his majority rule. However, James was no longer a child, and he and Anna were clearly trying to start a family of their own, as Anna tragically suffered her first miscarriage in September of 1590.
A Queen Learns to Politick
Unsurprisingly, Anna’s first foray into politics involved navigating the relationship between her native Denmark and Scotland. Anna spent much of 1590 and early 1591 getting a handle on the operation of Scottish politics alongside learning Scots and English, although she already spoke the official Scottish court language of French. Queen consorts were expected not just to solidify peace between their home courts and those they married into, but to help maintain these relations throughout their marriage, with both sides expecting preferenial treatment through her intercessions. Anna quickly provided Scottish merchants with letters of introduction to Danish trade and in her first major political interaction with England in 1591, Anna aided a Danish merchant who had been a victim of English piracy. Anna was smart to intervene so early in her reign. She quickly proved her political worth in successfully fullfilling one of the major duties expected of her which delighted both her husband and the Danish Council. The Queen Consort’s unofficial role as diplomat was reinforced again in 1602 when she was quick to warn her brother Christian IV, by then King of Denmark, that the Swedes were buying Scottish mercenaries to prepare for war. Anna would continue to provide a political link between Scotland and Denmark throughout her life, creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the two kingdoms.
Anna intervened in international politics again in 1592, once more involving herself in affairs with England. Maintaining the Anglo-Scottish relationship during this time was a careful balancing act. Mary’s death left James as the closest heir to the English throne. His great-grandmother Margaret Tudor was Queen Elizabeth’s aunt, the sister of Henry VIII. Not only that, but unlike his mother, James was a Protestant, making him a more acceptable heir to the English government. While James undoubtedly looked to benefit from this connection, he also had an independent political agenda for Scotland that at times put him at odds with Elizabeth. Not to mention any ill-feelings James harboured about Elizabeth’s execution of his mother. So, while it was important to often appease the more powerful English Queen, conflict between England and Scotland was arguably inevitable. Anna, however, quickly showed she was adept at mitigating tensions with England. In 1592 fighting broke out between two families on the Scottish border where feuds over territory lines were common. Theft was equally commonplace here as thieves, known as border reivers, could evade authorities by crossing into the other kingdom. On this occasion, it was the Kerrs of Cessford and the Kerrs of Ancrum whose blood feud had sparked again along the border. Anna personally intervened with James to halt the feuding, restoring calm to the tumultuous region. The English ambassador wrote to Elizabeth that Anna intervened “thinking to do her majesty some pleasure” for “which she worthily deserves great thanks.” Anna proved she could navigate the turbulent game of Anglo-Scottish politics, bringing peace to the pleasure of both monarchies.
Anna would work throughout her time in Scotland to maintain good relations with Elizabeth, writing to her often and even commissioning a portrait of her, a sign of high regard. In the end, Anna’s manoeuvring would help ensure Elizabeth and James maintained a working relationship, keeping the Scottish royal couple in Elizabeth’s good graces so they could continue to benefit from their filial connection. In 1603 Elizabeth would indeed name James as her successor. While in reality, Elizabeth had little choice - James being her most direct blood relation with the correct religious leanings - they still required Elizabeth’s public favour to ensure the English public accepted their rule. Anna’s efforts to smooth over any unease or insult James’s political manoeuvrings might cause the English Queen clearly assisted in maintaining Elizbeth’s support for her young cousin. Anna was clearly part of James’s efforts to ensure a smooth succession to the English throne, playing her political part in building a relationship with Elizabeth.
Let the Factions Begin
By 1593, it became clear that not only could Anna handle international politics, but she had a more than operational understanding of Scottish domestic politics too. Anna had spent three years in Scotland, observing how courtiers and nobles formed factions around different political issues, and how James navigated these factional politics to suit his own agenda. The Scottish court was a complex mix of nobles who came and went from their own territories, permanent politicians and courtiers, and James’s and Anna’s households made up of both prominent and lower ranking servants. Anna exhibited a pattern of political manuevueres throughout her reign, proving she could navigate this complex court nexus of shifting alliances. In 1593 John Maitland of Thirlestane was one of the most prominent men in the Scottish court, having served as James’ Chancellor for six years. It was Chancellor Maitland who held Dunfermline Abbey, which James had granted Anna as a wedding gift. Yet nearly four years later Maitland still held the Abbey. Anna, tired of waiting for Maitland to hand over the land, formed a faction around herself to oppose the Chancellor and put pressure on both Maitland and James to ensure she received her wedding gift.
Anna did not hold back in her factional conflict with Maitland, going so far as to align herself with the Earl of Bothwell, one of James’s notorious enemies. Bothwell and James were cousins, but they had gotten into a disagreement in 1591 and tensions had run high ever since. Anna was making an incredibly daring move. She had only been in Scotland for three years, but the bonds that tied and frayed the ever-changing alliances of the Scottish court spanned back centuries in some cases. Anna was taking a huge risk in interfering in such complex relationships, especially with a man who had so recently fallen out of the King's grace. Clearly, this was not a woman who, as Roy Strong suggests, looked to avoid politics. Instead, shortly after her arrival at all of 18 years-old, Anna threw herself head first into Scotland's factional nobility to make an incredibly brave and bold political move that paid off. Anna successfully leveraged Bothwell’s noble standing, land, and royal kinship to strengthen her faction all while maintaining her relationship with James. Further, Anna proved her ability to work across religious differences. It was in 1593 that Anna first started exhibiting Catholic sympathies. She continued to practise Protestantism in public throughout her life, as was expected of her as a queen of a Protestant kingdom, but in private she would become a professed Catholic. Bothwell on the other hand was a virulent Presbyterian, illustrating Anna’s determination to accomplish her aims in spite of any personal or religious differences.
In the end, Anna’s faction grew so strong that Maitland fled the court, with the English Ambassador writing that he refused to return until “he might be restored to her good countenance…to serve the King.” In the same letter, the ambassador also details how “sundry ministers have travailed…with the Queen to pacify her wrath against the Chancellor.” Yet Anna was immobile, and throughout the year ambassadorial reports continued to detail that good relations would only prevail if “the Chancellor…turn[s] to the course thus liked by” Anna. While some historians like Lee and McElwee have denounced Anna for bearing harsh grudges and prejudices in such instances, Anna had a clear reason to hold strong against Maitland. In this period, holding land equated to increased power and wealth, and Anna’s household was consistently running over budget. Anna needed the income Dunfermline could provide, and she was determined to secure it. Maitland did eventually bend to Anna’s desires, vacating his hold on Dunfermline to secure his political career. Anna proved in 1593, at only 18-years-old, that she was a force to be reckoned with, controlling the political career of a much older man contemporaries considered second in power only to the King. Yet men making such statements overlooked the power of their Queen who managed to put Maitland in his place, securing her land by any means while maintaining her relationship with James.
One of the reasons Anna may have retained James’s favour throughout her political battles with Maitland was that in late 1593, she could tell James that she was pregnant. Their first child, Henry, duke of Rothesay was born on February 19th, 1594. In the Scottish royal tradition, Henry had an elaborate baptism at Stirling Castle on 29th August attended by his foreign royal family as well as Scottish nobility. The mood was celebratory, and the couple were overjoyed by the birth of their first son and heir. But their harmonious atmosphere quickly splintered when James decided to align with Scottish royal tradition, appointing the Earl of Marr as Henry’s guardian. The prince would be raised at Stirling Castle as his father had been, taking him away form his family-oriented mother. James felt this was safer for his son, as he had been constantly under threat as a child. However, there was no Danish precedent for such parental separation, and Anna’s own mother had directly overseen her children’s upbringing and education. Further, Henry, unlike James, had two living, non-imprisoned parents. Anna was, unsurprisingly, horrified that her firstborn was to be raised in another household. If James thought Anna’s anger would blow over, he was sorely mistaken. Anna was determined that she would raise her son.
As early as the end of 1594, Anna was forming another faction around herself to support her bid to regain custody of Henry. Anna would even briefly ally herself with Chancellor Maitland in 1595, proving she could put aside past differences to accomplish her aims. Anna was intelligent and knew how to pull those in power to her cause with her faction growing strong enough to dominate Scotland’s prominent Edinburgh political scene while James’s faction was based around Stirling itself. By July 1595, Anna’s faction had such power that James, to retain his authority, had to issue a royal edict that no one, including Anna, was allowed to remove Prince Henry from Stirling. James had to be worried about Anna’s political strength and wit if he was pushed to the extremes of issuing such a public proclamation barring his wife. Still, Anna in all her determination would not be dissuaded, and the fighting continued. Tensions grew so high that by August 1595 the Kirks in Edinburgh were holding fasts to pray for the reunification of the King and Queen. Anna’s savvy ability to successfully divide Scotland’s political elite in direct opposition to her King to dominate the Kingdom’s geographical political centre proves Anna was an astute politician, unwavering in her political goals.
James was almost persuaded to change his course for his love of the queen. A courtier writing in early August of 1595 noted that while “a faction for the King and another for the Queen” had formed, “The King bears so great an affection for her that no man dare deal with him in what concerns her, and so he ‘perrels’ both himself and such as love him.” However, James managed to hold strong. Although James and Anna were shortly reunited after Anna temporarily backed down, Henry’s custody was a continual sore spot as James refused to remove Henry from Stirling. Factional politics over the prince would flare up throughout Anna and James’s time in Scotland, and Anna would always throw everything she could at James to regain custody of her son. In return, James often had to use every weapon in his arsenal, including having Anna’s mother and Queen Elizabeth pressure her in letters, to get Anna to back down. Henry’s custody was a major crack in what was formerly a quite happy marriage. Indeed, the conflict only found closure when James was called to England after Elizabeth’s death in 1603. When Anna was eventually instructed to come to England herself, she went first to Stirling and refused to leave Scotland unless Henry came with her. It was only then that James begrudgingly curtailed to her wishes, and Anna left for England with her firstborn.
However, every time emotions ran high over Henry’s custody and Anna took to political scheming, she always found a way back into James’s good graces. It is clear she knew how to play the game of Scottish politics, even turning her great mind against her own husband, when necessary, all while maintaining her influence and position as James’s Queen Consort. By October 1595 courtiers commented “the King and the Queen are in very kind terms and countenance together, either of them so pleasing others as either of their factions…chiefly the King’s side doubt their meanings.” By December, Anna and James appeared an united pair with Anna blaming the conflict on the recently deceased Maitland, effectively and efficiently offloading her culpability in the political turmoil she caused. Even if their marriage had irrevocably shifted in the course of their first major conflict, Anna managed to restore her proximity to James, and the power that brought her. The couple must have been effectively reconciled by the end of 1595 because by August 1596, just when Anna was once again managing a careful political situation, she gave birth to her second child. Princess Elizabeth was born at Dunfermline, on the land Anna had fought hard to win.
To Have a Friend in the Queen
1596 was another big year for Anna, full of both triumph and tribulation. As discussed, in the early 1590s Anna started exhibiting Catholic tendencies. Anna was raised Lutheran in Denmark, but when she arrived in Scotland it was James who appointed her household from amongst the families of trusted and high-ranking nobles and courtiers. Despite its Protestant reformation, Scotland remained a country of mixed religion, and many of those that came to surround Anna as key members of her household and her closest friends were Catholics. Indeed, when Elizabeth was born, her guardianship was awarded to the Catholic Lord Livingstone and her godmother was the Catholic Countess of Huntley. Anna had no contest to this appointment, as Lady Livingstone was attached to her own household, allowing Anna to visit her daughter at her leisure. Such appointments illustrates the power Anna and her network of women had in Scottish politics. Being connected to Anna and her household could advance a whole family and prove a savvy and beneficial political connection. Moreso, Anna treated those she trusted within her household as family, fiercely protecting and looking after them, expecting the same undying loyalty in return. This again may have been influenced by Anna’s Danish upbringing, as her parents were also well-known to give lavish gifts and support to those in their household who proved loyal servants.
One of the most notable Catholics in Anna’s household in 1596 was the Countess of Huntley, Henrietta Stewart. The countess was James’s third cousin and the daughter of his rumoured former lover, the Earl of Lennox. She was married to another known Catholic, George Gordon, the Earl of Huntley. The two had James’s protection for most of his reign despite their opposing religions. The Earl of Huntley controlled considerable territory in Scotland’s Northern Highlands and as a long-time friend of James, provided the King with covert contact to continental Catholic powers. Henrietta equally was protected by her familial relationship with the King. Henrietta was most likely a central figure in introducing and converting Anna to Catholicism, as she had considerable access to the Queen as her Chief Lady. By 1596, Anna was fully maintaining a dual confessional identity as a public Protestant and private Catholic. Anna’s Catholicism was admittedly useful to James, allowing him to stay informed of Catholic activity in Scotland and on the Continent through his wife’s efforts. This would again becfome pertinent in 1596 when the Kirk was pushing James to persecute the Earl of Huntley who had fled the country in March of 1595 after murdering the Protestant Earl of Moray. Anna would plead for her friend’s cause, hoping to convince James to allow Huntley’s return to Scotland. James had little interest in persecuting his friend – he could ill afford such an expensive venture that could risk Catholic or territorial uprisings. However, he also could not afford to upset the Kirk, leaving him in precarious straits.
Henrietta had been barred from court after her husband fled, leaving to the country to manage the Gordon lands. Anna, hoping to return both of her friends to their former positions, would continually plead for Huntley’s return. She interceded with James just days after giving birth to Elizabeth, at which point James did allow Henrietta’s return to court as she attended Elizabeth’s November baptism in 1596 to serve as the baby’s godmother. In late December of the same year, the Countess came to court again, this time disguised as a serving woman. Henrietta crept into Holyrood House to see Anna, and together the two came up with a plan to see James and plead in unison for Huntley’s return to Scotland. This time, James was moved to renege and risk the Kirk’s wrath, granting Henrietta and Anna’s pleas and letting Huntley return to Scotland. In the end, Anna’s connections and determination to intervene in domestic politics saw her become a powerful ally for those who proved loyal friends, as she clearly knew how to leverage her connection to the King to benefit those in her favour.
James and Anna had much to celebrate on New Year’s Eve 1596 – the healthy birth of a new princess, the return of the Earl of Huntley to Scotland, and their reunion, however temporary. Anna had even more to celebrate than James that year, as in 1593 she had employed a group of men who came to be known as the Octavians, who by 1596 had successfully balanced the Queen’s household’s finances. The Scottish state had been impoverished by the drawn out religious and Marian conflicts of the mid 16th century, and the royal couple struggled to live within their household budgets. Anna turned to a group of Scottish courtiers and statesmen to help her get a handle on her financial affairs. It was difficult for the Scottish Queen to economise, but by 1596 accounts were balanced, and Anna, ever-loyal to those who served her well, planned to promote the Octavians to James’s household. European monarchy in the 16th century was a personal affair, and the closer access you could get to the body of the monarch, the greater the potential to increase your influence. Anna, when she could maintain her relationship with James, arguably had the most unfettered access to the King, giving her a great amount of influence which she wielded with careful precision to maintain her own influence. The Octavians knew of the opportunities that came with the Queen’s employ, and they reaped the benefits of her connections.
During the New Year’s Eve celebrations, Anna publicly gifted James 600 of the 1,000 pounds the Octavians had saved her over the course of 1596. Anna was bold, stylishly and carefully leveraging public spectacle so that by the end of the night, she had convinced James to take the Octavians into his employ to manage his own woeful over-spending. In one night, Anna managed to propel the Octavians into some of the most coveted positions in James’s household, granting them control over the King’s finances. Unfortunately for the Octavians, their promotion would be short lived, as two years later they had all lost their positions. Balancing a king's finances was an easy way to make enemies. Scottish politics relied on royal grants of patronage and gifts in return for political loyality and favours. Anna, ever-attuned to Scottish politics, knew how to play this game of royal gift-giving and had successfully raised her favourites in promoting the Octavians in return for their political service to her household. But, as a result of the restrictions the Octavians placed on the King’s funds, James could not reward and promote his own favourites as before. Thus many courtiers used to James lavish affection resented the restrictions the Octavians placed on the King’s ability to dole out gifts. However, all the Octavian’s remained in James’s employ in other capacities within his court and household, many retaining other prominent positions and even earning grants of title. For instance, James awarded the Octavian Alexander Seton guardianship of Prince Charles in 1600 before appointing him Chancellor of Scotland in 1604, and naming him Earl of Dunfermline in 1605. Anna was the queen on the chess board who could make or break your career in her wily manoeuvring, providing a connection to James that could give you a massive leg-up in Scottish politics if you proved yourself worthy of her favour.
Lying in Wait
Anna’s political ventures continued during her next few years in Scotland, as both kingdoms waited rather impatiently for the English succession to finally be decided. The couple fought intermittently over Henry’s custody, putting a strain on their relationship, but they were a united front in their efforts to stay in Queen Elizabeth’s good graces. Anna also maximized her political connections to convince continental powers that James would be the best successor for Catholicism, hinting to the Pope in letters that James was sympathetic towards the religion. In between political battles, Anna and James would continue to have children. Princess Margaret was born on 24th December 1598, but she would only survive for two years before tragically passing away while Anna was pregnant. Anna and James always mourned their childrens passings greatly, and Anna was heartbroken by the loss. Prince Charles, the Duke of Albany was born in November of 1600, in Dunfermline. Though born a second son, Charles would one day rule England, Ireland, and Wales as Charles I. It was also during Anna’s pregnancy with Charles that she was shocked with news of the infamous Gowrie plot led by two brothers, Alexander and John Ruthven. As avowed Presbyterians, the Ruthvens’ disliked the monarchical control James tried to exhibit over the Church. Additionally, James owed the family a royal debt of around 40,000 pounds. So the brothers tricked James into coming to Gowrie House, intent to assassinate him. The plot failed spectacularly with both brothers dying in the attempt, but it caused huge upheaval nonetheless with James viciously persecuting the remaining Ruthvens and declaring both brothers guilty of treason posthumously. The events not only frightened the pregnant Anna but forced her to part with a treasured member of her Household, Beatrix Ruthven. Anna, ever loyal, fought for Beatrix to stay, though James would force her to let her friend go. Still, Anna remained obstinate and continued to stay in contact with Beatrix throughout her life, aiding her as she could. Anna would always bravely defend and support those in her household who served her well, even in exile.
From 1600 on, Anna fully came into her own in Scotland, understanding the weight of her impact as a Queen. She continued to exert more and more influence over her household and its appointments and continued her interventions in both domestic and international politics. Anna would also have one more child in Scotland in 1602, Prince Robert, Duke of Kintyre. However, Robert too would live for just four months before passing. Anna and James were once more heartbroken by another child’s death, refusing to attend funerals for the rest of their lives after Robert’s service. Anna had two more daughters in England who would both also tragically die young. In total, she would lose five living children, Prince Henry dying just months short of his 19th birthday in 1612. These tragedies coupled with a disparate English political landscape made Anna’s time there quite different. But the story of Anna in England is one for another time. For now, our story ends in 1603 when James received word that Queen Elizabeth had died, and he would ascend to the English throne. He travelled to England alone, as Anna was once again pregnant, though she would again lose the child prematurely. Eventually arrangements were made for Anna to come to England herself, and after the aforementioned battle to take her son with her, she departed from Edinburgh with both Henry and Elizabeth on June 1st, 1603.
Anna would never return to Scotland, spending the rest of her life in England, but she would forever carry with her the lessons, family, and friendships she made on Scottish soil. Anna’s time as Queen of Scotland was definitive in shaping the path of her life. Beyond learning the intricacies of the Scottish court, she perfected her diplomatic role in her affairs with Denmark, England, and Catholic Europe. She mastered the careful game of factional politics, out-witting and out-playing men second in power to the King to accede to her will, and she fiercely protected and promoted those that served her well, making powerful friends and in turn enemies on the Scottish political landscape. Anna was a woman of incredibly bravery, intelligence, conviction, and loyalty. Far from a weak and foolish woman, Anna proved the strength of her character again and again as she navigated the Scottish political landscape. It would be erroneous to ignore the impact of her political manoeuvrings during the 13 years she spent in Scotland.
Further Reading
Ashley, Maurice. 1980. The House of Stuart: its Rise and Fall. London, Melbourne, Toronto: J.M. Dents & Sons.
Barroll, Leeds. 2001. Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Barroll, Leeds. 1991. "The First Court of the Stuart Queen." In The Mental World of the Jacobean Court, by Linda Levy Peck, 191-208. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dunn-Hensley, Susan. 2017. Anna of Denmark and Henrietta Maria: Virgins, Witches, and Catholic Queens. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fields, Jemma. 2020. Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts, 1589-1619. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Juhala, Amy L. 2017. "'For the King Favours Them Strangely'; The Rise of James VI's Chamber, 1580-1603." In James VI and Noble Power in Scotland 1578-1603, by Miles Kerr-Peterson and Steven J. Reid, 155-169. London: Routledge.
McElwee, William Lloyd. 1975. The Art of War: Waterloo to Mons. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Meikle, Maureen. 2000. "A Meddelsome Princess: Anna of Denmark and Scottish Court Politics, 1589-1603." In The Reign of James VI, by Julian Goodare and Michael Lynch, 126-140. East Linton: Birlinn Ltd.
Meikle, Maureen. 1999. "'Holde Her at the Oeconomicke Rule of the House': Anna of Denmark and Scottish Court Finances, 1589-1603." In Women in Scotland c.1100-1750, by Elizabeth Ewan and Meikle M. Maureen, 105-111. Phantassie: Tuckwell Press.
Meikle, Maureen M. 2019. "Once a Dane, Always a Dane? Queen Anna of Denmark's Foreign Relations and Intercessions as a Queen Consort of Scotland and England, 1588-1619." The Court Historian 24 (2): 168-180.
Meikle, Maureen M., and Helen Payne. 2008. "Anne [Anna, Anne of Denmark]." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. January 03. Accessed August 17, 2023. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-559?rskey=HtoiTh&result=2#odnb-9780198614128-e-559-div1-d2119765e1444.
Pearce, Michael. 2019. "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland." The Court Historian 24 (2): 138-151.
Strong, Roy. 1986. Henry, Prince of Wales, and England's Lost Renaissance. New York City: Thames & Hudson.
Whitelock, Anna. 2018. "Reconsidering the Political Role of Anna of Denmark." In Queenship and Counsel in Early Modern Europe, by Catherine Fletcher, Joanne Paul and Helen Matheson-Pollock, 237-258. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wormald, Jenny. 2014. "James VI and I." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. September 25. Accessed August 17, 2023. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-14592?rskey=244wrN&result=2#odnb-9780198614128-e-14592-div1-d2270e1833.