Anna of Denmark (1574-1619)

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Anna of Denmark, ca.1605, painted by John de Critz
Princess Anna of Denmark
Anna's coat of arms and motto , entry in Michael van Meer's album Amicorum , 1614

Princess Anna of Denmark ( December 12, 1574 in Skanderborg , † March 2, 1619 in Hampton Court Palace , London ) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of James I.

Life

Childhood and youth

Anna was the second daughter of King Friedrich II of Denmark and Norway from his marriage to Sophie von Mecklenburg . Anna's father was expecting a prince and loudly reproached his wife in childbed about the birth of another daughter.

The princess spent the first part of her childhood with her sister Elisabeth , who later became Duchess of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , and her brother Christian , to whom she was very close throughout her life, in Güstrow with her grandfather Ulrich and her grandmother Elisabeth, a sister of King Christian III . from Denmark . Anna's mother Sophie, who reigned after the death of her husband in 1588, then took over the upbringing of the children in Denmark again.

The applicants for Anna's hand were numerous, the Danish court was considered wealthy and a high dowry was expected. Anna's mother chose the Scottish King James VI. As a morning gift, the bride should bring the disputed Shetland and Orkney Islands into the marriage. The official marriage proposal was made by a Scottish embassy in June 1589.

Queen of Scotland

Anna married Jakob on August 20, 1589 at Kronborg Castle in Denmark according to the Lutheran rite. Lord Keith took the place of the absent groom . Her husband's homosexual tendencies had been hidden from her. Less than two weeks later, the Queen sailed in a fleet of fourteen ships on a stormy crossing to Scotland. Because of the hurricane, you had to turn to Norway and land there. Jacob finally had to travel to meet his wife. On November 23, 1589, the marriage took place in the presence of Jacob in the palace of the Bishop of Oslo.

The couple spent the first few weeks of their marriage in Copenhagen and were quite affectionate. A third wedding ceremony was held in January 1590. In May 1590 the newlyweds finally arrived in Scotland and on May 17, 1590 Anna was crowned Queen of Scotland in Holyrood after a Protestant ceremony. The Queen, now called Anne, moved into Dunfermline Castle .

Although Anna and Jakob were quite close at the beginning of their marriage, their relationship deteriorated as the marriage progressed. Above all, the handing over of Anna's firstborn to the care of Lord and Lady Carr had led to alienation. Although she grew up as a Protestant , she converted to Catholicism shortly after her marriage . This led to a loss of reputation and put Jacob in an uncomfortable position when he became King of England in 1603.

Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland

Coat of arms of Anna as Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland

After the death of Elizabeth I , Jacob VI was. 1603 as James I also King of England and Ireland. In the same year Jakob and Anna relocated. Because of a plague epidemic, the royal couple had to stay away from London and the coronation ceremonies were postponed, which finally took place on July 25, 1603 in Westminster Abbey .

Anna had an expensive taste in clothing, jewelery, and loved carefully crafted masks, with which she added a lot to court costs. This wastefulness of Anne, who was increasingly indebted, in turn damaged Jacob's reputation. After 1606 the queen and her husband lived separately. Anne resided mostly in the "Denmark House" (Somerset House). Her political influence in England was insignificant, although she sponsored a project for a Spanish marriage to Prince Henry and Jakob left her as regent in England on a trip to Scotland in 1617. Anna did not get along at all with Jacob's Minister Robert Cecil . Anne was concerned about the favoritism that followed Cecil's death and the rise of Buckingham .

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger : Queen Anne in mourning for her son Heinrich Friedrich

Anne looked after her children lovingly, but especially Karl after his older brother died early and Elisabeth married in the Palatinate. She had raised concerns about her son-in-law, Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate , because she would have wanted a king for her daughter, which is why she stayed away from the wedding in 1613. In 1619/20, Friedrich embarked on the political adventure of being elected "Winter King" by the Bohemian estates, which King James disapproved of and led to the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War .

Queen's House in Greenwich Park was designed for Anna in 1616 , but after a few years of poor health and frequent spa stays in Bath , she died of dropsy in 1619 at the age of 44 . Only after twelve weeks was Jakob able to raise the money for the appropriate funeral services for his wife.

progeny

Anna had children with Jakob

  • Henry Frederick (1594-1612)
  • Child, stillborn 1595
  • Elizabeth (1596–1662), the winter queen
  • Margaret (born December 29, 1598), died at the age of 1600
  • Charles (1600–1649), German Karl I was King of England from 1625 to 1649
  • Robert Bruce (born February 18, 1601), Duke of Kintyre , died in 1602
  • Son, died shortly after birth in 1603
  • Mary (born April 18, 1605), died at the age of two
  • Sophie (born June 22, 1606), died the next day

ancestors

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
King Friedrich I (1471–1533)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
King Christian III (1503–1559)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anna of Brandenburg (1487–1514)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
King Friedrich II. (1534–1588)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Magnus I of Saxony-Lauenburg (1470–1543)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dorothea of ​​Saxony-Lauenburg (1511–1571)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Katharina of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1488–1563)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anna of Denmark
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Albert VII Duke of Mecklenburg , (1486–1547)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ulrich of Mecklenburg (1527–1603)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anna of Brandenburg (1507–1567)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sophie of Mecklenburg (1557–1631)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
King Friedrich I (1471–1533)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Elisabeth of Denmark (1524–1586)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sophia of Pomerania (1498–1568)
 
 
 
 
 
 

As a result of family marriages, King Frederick I of Denmark is Anna's great-grandfather twice.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Anna of Denmark  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
predecessor Office Successor
Philip of Spain Queen Consort of England and Ireland
1603–1619
Henrietta Maria of France
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell Queen Consort of Scotland
1589–1619
Henrietta Maria of France