Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales was the eldest son and heir apparent of King James VI and I and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones. However, at the age of 18, he predeceased his father, dying of typhoid fever. His younger brother, the future Charles I, succeeded him as heir apparent to the thrones.
Early life
Henry was born on 19 February 1594 at Stirling Castle, Scotland, and automatically received the titles Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland at birth. His nurses included Mistress Primrose and Mistress Bruce.His baptism, held on 30 August 1594, was celebrated with elaborate theatrical entertainments written by the poet William Fowler and took place in a newly constructed Chapel Royal at Stirling, purpose-built by William Schaw. Ambassadors were given portraits of Henry depicting him as "a fine thriving child". To cover the expenses, James VI imposed a tax of £100,000. Textiles and costumes for the event were purchased using the dowry of £100,000 Scots belonging to Anne, which had been held in trust by various towns. In the month leading up to the baptism, rumours circulated at the Scottish court that King James was jealous of Queen Anne and suspected that Ludovic Stewart, Duke of Lennox might be Henry’s biological father.
File:Nicholas Hilliard Elizabeth I c 1595-1600.jpg|thumb|right|Elizabeth I sent a miniature portrait by Nicholas Hilliard to Prince Henry.
James placed the prince in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and his mother Annabell Murray at Stirling Castle, out of the care of Queen Anne. James worried that Anne's tendency toward Catholicism might affect Henry. The child's removal to Stirling caused enormous tension between Anne and James, and Henry remained there under the care of Mar's family until 1603. James VI wrote a note to the Earl of Mar in June 1595 instructing him, in the event of his death, not to deliver Henry to Anne of Denmark or the Parliament of Scotland until he was 18 and gave the order himself.
Anne was reluctant to go to Stirling and was said to be afraid that her enemies would give her a poisoned posset at the Castle. James frequently visited the prince, and travelled to Stirling for his son's first birthday. As early as August 1595, James encouraged the infant to hold a pen and make a penstroke on a document, which the king humorously certified, "I will testify this is the prince's own mark".
The prince had silver candlesticks, a silver cup and a silver plate with a salt cellar. Elizabeth I contributed to the expenses at Stirling, paying £5000 Scots in 1595. At this time, Patrick Gray, Master of Gray, was keeper of Henry's wardrobe, and took delivery of a little coffer worth £8 Scots for the prince's clothes. Adam Newton became his schoolmaster or tutor. William Keith of Delny and then George Lauder were his legal tutors, administrators of his estates and incomes.
In 1596 Queen Elizabeth, via Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, and his secretary Anthony Bacon, sent her miniature portrait by Nicholas Hilliard to Prince Henry, and this was received by the Earl of Mar at Stirling. It was said that Henry would be godfather to his younger brother Robert in May 1602 and afterwards stay at Dunfermline Palace with his mother, but James VI forbade this.
Alexander Wilson became Henry's tailor. In 1602 it was planned that Henry would visit his mother at Falkland Palace, but this was postponed because of her sickness. The French ambassador in London Christophe de Harlay, Count of Beaumont, reported a rumour, spread by James's friends, that Anne of Denmark was cruel and ambitious, and hoped to rule Scotland as regent or governor for Henry after the death of her husband.
London
James became king of England in 1603 at the Union of the Crowns and his family moved south. Queen Anne came to Stirling to collect her son, and after an argument with the prince's keepers, Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar and the Master of Mar, was allowed to take Henry to Edinburgh on 28 May. On the following Sunday Anne took him to St Giles Kirk in her silver coach. Anne and Henry arrived in England, at the fortified town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on 1 June.Henry's tutor Adam Newton continued to serve the prince, and several Scottish servants from the Stirling household were retained, including the poet David Murray. The prince was lodged at Oatlands and Nonsuch Palace, and was relocated to Winchester during an outbreak of plague. At Winchester, in September 1603, Queen Anne produced a masque to welcome her son, which was controversial. In November 1603 he was staying at Wilton House, and King James joked that a letter presented to Henry by the Venetian diplomats was bigger than he was. Henry rode with the Earl of Nottingham and his governor Sir Thomas Chaloner to Salisbury to dine with the Venetian ambassador Nicolò Molin and other diplomats. This was the first time he had made an appearance and dined outside the royal household, and his father joked that Henry was the ambassador's prisoner.
On 15 March 1604, Henry rode on horseback behind his father through the streets of London during the delayed Royal Entry. From 1604 onwards, Henry often stayed at St James's Palace. Alphonsus Fowle improved the gardens for him. Henry's daily expenses in England were managed by the Cofferer of the Household, Henry Cocke and after 1610 David Foulis. David Murray of Gorthy was keeper of the prince's privy purse and his accounts reveal some details of Henry's interests.
Two Scottish tailors, Alexander Wilson and Patrick Black, moved to London and made the prince's clothes. Wilson made him doublets and hose from cloth supplied by Robert Grigge, and a hunting coat of green chamlet lined with velvet. The prince was supplied with perfumed gloves made of stag's leather, perfumed gloves from Córdoba, and embroidered waistcoats "wrought very curiously in colour silks".
Music, games and sports
Prince Henry was introduced to a variety of sports at Stirling Castle. In September 1600 he was bought two golf clubs, two staffs, and four rackets. The handles were covered with velvet and dressed with metal passementerie. In September 1601, an English visitor, Thomas Musgrave, saw Henry dance, leap, and wield a pike. On Sunday 8 May 1603 Henry exercised in the castle garden, watched by his mother, played billiards after dinner, and after supper "ran and played at the boards". Henry had a huntsman, Thomas Pott, who continued to serve him in England. Pott travelled abroad several times, taking gifts of dogs from the young prince to European rulers.Henry was tutored in music by Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger, Nicholas Villiard, and Walter Quinn. Thomas Giles taught him to dance. In August 1604 Henry danced for the Spanish envoy, the Constable Velasco, and showed him military pike exercises in the palace garden. Charles Guerolt taught Henry the "science of defence", fencing. At Oatlands in 1603 Prince Henry told Scaramelli, a Venetian diplomat, about his interests in dancing, tennis and hunting. George Moncrieff was his falconer and kept his hawks.
In 1606 the French ambassador Antoine Lefèvre de la Boderie noted that Prince Henry played golf, which he described as a Scottish game not unlike "pallemail" or pall-mall. One of Prince Henry's biographers, "W. H.", mentioned that Henry nearly hit Adam Newton with a golf ball, and Henry said that would have paid him back. Henry also played tennis, and in July 1606 played with his uncle Christian IV of Denmark at Greenwich Palace. He had a court for "pall-mall", laid out at St James's Fields, north of St James's Palace. It was a long alley surfaced with cockle shells crushed into clay or loam.
In 1607 Henry sought permission to learn to swim, but the Earls of Suffolk and Shrewsbury wrote to Newton that swimming was a "dangerous thing" that their own sons might practise "like feathers as light as things of nought", but was not suitable for princes as "things of great weight and consequence".
A riding school, one of the first in England, was built for him at St James's Palace in 1607. Robert Douglas was the prince's master of horse by 1610. Henry competed at running at the ring with foreign visitors and diplomats including Louis Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard, in April and May 1610. Henry talked of the merits of various breeds of horses and his own Barbary horses to the Venetian ambassador Antonio Foscarini in 1611.
In March 1609, Henry was entertained by a man with a baboon. He revealed an interest in Venetian maritime power and had a plan of the fortification of Palmanova. As an indoor amusement, Henry played chess.