Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland; and his wife 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 his father's thrones. However, at the age of 18, he predeceased his father, dying of typhoid fever. His younger brother Charles succeeded him as heir apparent to the English, Irish, and Scottish thrones.
Early life
Henry was born at Stirling Castle, Scotland, and became Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland automatically on his birth. His nurses included Mistress Primrose and Mistress Bruce. Henry's baptism on 30 August 1594 was celebrated with complex theatrical entertainments written by poet William Fowler and a ceremony in a new Chapel Royal at Stirling purpose-built by William Schaw. James VI set a tax of £100,000 for the expenses. Textiles and costume for the event were bought using Anne's dowry of £100,000 Scots which had been in the safekeeping of various towns. In the month before the baptism, there were rumours at the Scottish court that James VI was jealous of Anne of Denmark and thought that the Duke of Lennox might be the father of Prince Henry.
His father placed him in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and his mother Annabell Murray, at Stirling Castle, out of the care of the boy's mother. James VI worried that the mother's tendency toward Catholicism might affect the son. 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.
James VI frequently visited the Prince, and travelled to Stirling for his son's first birthday. As early as August 1595 he 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". At this time, the 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. Anne of Denmark was reluctant to go to Stirling and was said to be afraid that her enemies would give her a poisoned posset at the Castle.
In 1596 Queen Elizabeth, via the 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 Prince Henry would be godfather to his younger brother Duke Robert, in May 1602, and afterwards stay at Dunfermline Palace with his mother, but James VI forbade this. In 1602 a visit to his mother at Falkland Palace was planned, but 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. Anne of Denmark 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 famous silver coach. Anne and Henry arrived in England, at the fortified town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, on 1 June.