James VI and I (1566–1625), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, died on 27 March 1625 at Theobalds, and was buried at Westminster Abbey on 7 May 1625.
At Theobalds
In his later years King James was sometimes immobilised by illnesses. In April 1619 he had to travel in a litter, and then was carried in a chair. Although King James became increasingly infirm, he continued to ride and hunt. In December 1624, Oliver Browne, an upholsterer and furniture maker, provided six portable chairs to use at the hunt, and six special chairs to lift him to and from his bed.
The King's final illness included a fever, described as a "tertian ague". He seems to have had a combination of kidney disease and arthritis. The events of the king's final days proved controversial with allegations of inappropriate or ill-advised medical interventions. When King James was on his deathbed at Theobalds, it was said that Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham had arranged for his treatment with a plaster or poultice applied to his chest, stomach, and wrist. This angered his Scottish-born physician John Craig who rebuked her. For his speeches to the Countess, Craig was ordered to leave court. The Earl of Kellie, a Scottish courtier, described the rumour and the Duke of Buckingham's anger at it:There has something fallen out here much disliked, and I for myself think much mistaken, and that is this. My Lord of Bukkinghame wishing mutche the Kings healthe caused splaister to be applyed to the Kings breast, after which his Majesty was extremely sick, and with all did give him a drink or syrup to drink; and this was which has spread such a business here and discontent as you would wonder, and Doctor Craig is now absented from court and Harry Gibb of the bedchamber is quarrelled for it (blamed), and my Lord Buckingham so incensed".
Buckingham's doctor, John Remington, is known to have attended James at Theobalds in March 1625. He gave the Duke's servant and barber John Baker a recipe for a drink called a julep or posset. After the king's death, Remington and other physicians including Matthew Lister disputed the provenance and composition of a medical plaster found on the body. Subsequently, George Eglisham amplified rumours by publishing the Forerunner of Revenge, a pamphlet blaming Buckingham and his doctors for hastening the king's death.
Henry Gibb removed the controversial plaster at the king's request during the night of 21 March. The physician, William Paddy came to Theobalds on 25 March and told James the end was near. James died on Sunday 27 March at noon.
A new king proclaimed at Theobalds
King Charles was proclaimed at the gate of Theobalds by the Knight Marshal, Edward Zouch. The Earl of Kellie advised that proclamations should speak of the "King of Great Britain", rather than putting one nation of the Union first, as in "England and Scotland" or "Scotland and England". The proclamation sent for reading at the Mercat cross of Edinburgh accordingly referred to the "late King of Grite Britane, France and Ireland". A messenger was sent to Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, at The Hague with money and black cloth to place her household in mourning.
A commission of Earls met in the council chamber at Whitehall Palace to determine the detail of the funeral and processions. The sculptor Maximilian Colt went to Theobalds to make the king's death mask. After an autopsy, the king's body was embalmed, and soldered into a lead coffin by Abraham Greene. The coffin was placed on a carriage at Theobalds and brought to Denmark House on the Strand in the early hours of the morning. A torchlight procession through the streets of London was spoiled by foul weather.
Denmark House
The aristocrats at court were expected to follow the cortège from Theobalds or await the arrival of the body at Somerset House, then known as Denmark House. Instead, the Earls of Roxburghe and Morton went out of London to make merry with Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford at Moor Park. This "absurdity" caused comment and remark.
The body of King James lay in state at Denmark House. The rooms were draped with black cloth and the coffin covered with black velvet. A lifelike wooden effigy of the king was placed on top, dressed in royal robes. The room was lit with six silver candlesticks that Prince Charles had bought in Spain in 1623.