On August 20th 1589 James VI married Anne of Denmark.
Anne was married by proxy to James VI, King of Scots at Kronborg Castle in Denmark, the ceremony ending with James' representative, George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, sitting next to Anne on the bridal bed.
On her journey to Scotland she was marooned in Norway and James made the chivalrous decision to travel out and rescue her and hey were married in person in Oslo on 23rd November, during the ceremony, Anne was described as “a Princess both godly and beautiful … she giveth great contentment to his Majesty.” They travelled by sledge to Denmark, where Anne was reunited with her family.
Anne and James landed in Leith on 1st May 1590, the Queen she was given a grand ceremonial entry to Edinburgh, and was crowned Queen on 17th May. She may have converted to Catholicism within a few years of their marriage.
Anne gave birth to her first child in February 1594, a son named Henry Frederick. She was pregnant a total of 9 times, but she had two miscarriages, and four children died in infancy. Only Henry Frederick, Charles and Elizabeth survived to adulthood.
Of the children on November 6th 1612 Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, died of typhoid, he was aged 18. Anne and James were said to be devastated. In February 1613, Anne’s second child, Elizabeth, married Frederick, Elector Palatine, in London, en route to becoming, briefly, Queen of Bohemia. Charles would live to be King but would be beheaded by the English Parliamentarians in 1649, aged 48.
