Anne of Denmark
1574-1619. Wife to King James I/James VI. Queen of England 1603-1619.
As the Danish King was very wealthy, there were many candidates who wanted to marry Anne and her sister. Denmark finally decided to accept the proposal of King James VI of Scotland because this way the argument about the Orkney and Shetland islands would finally be solved as they belonged to Anne’s dowry.
The marriage took place on August 20, 1589, and was carried out without King James – it was a Scottish delegate who was present. There was another marriage celebration which took place on November 23, 1589, this time the King was present as well; the ceremony was repeated once again in the presence of the Danish royal family.
Anne was very popular among the Scottish people; this was both because of her youth and the splendour which accompanied her arrival in Scotland because the financial means of the royal family in Scotland were rather limited. However, court life changed after Anne’s arrival as she was the first Queen after 20 years of male reign.
Anne soon lost her popularity, this was especially due to the fact that she did not get pregnant for quite a while. However, their first child was born February 19, 1594, and was called Henry Frederick. King James was happy about being provided with an heir as he thought this should confirm his claim on the English throne. Anne and James had several other children: Elisabeth (born on August 19, 1596, later to marry Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate), Margaret (born on December 24, 1598, but died at a very young age), Charles (born on November 19, 1600, later King Charles I of England), Robert Bruce (born on May 27, 1602, died early), Mary (1605–1607) and two other children who also died very early.
After James was crowned King of England, Anne visited England for the first time and discovered many things that were completely new to her. She was highly impressed by court masques and supported Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones. Apart from supporting English theatre, Anne also spent a lot of money on her clothing and on building projects and thus added to King James' financial troubles.
Anne had rather little influence on King James’ political decisions and they lived in different places for most part of the year. Nevertheless, they still appeared together for official occasions.
Sources
Panzer, Marita A. Englands Königinnen, Von den Tudors zu den Windsors, Regensburg: Pustet, 2001.