A drawing of James I & VI of England and Scotland and his queen consort Anne of Denmark.

James I & VI of England and Scotland and Anne of Denmark are today remembered in history as the royal couple under whom the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland were united in 1603, following the death of Elizabeth I of England and James’s ascension to the English throne as the great-great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, the eldest sister of Elizabeth I’s father Henry VIII. Traditionally, they have also been treated by historians as a foolish, incompetent king and frivolous, lightweight queen but in recent decades, their characters and reputations are being reexamined and they are now seen more as a serious, thoughtful monarch and an assertive, effective queen whose keen championing of the arts left a relatively large impact on the society that she lived in.

So who were James and Anne in their lifetimes, individually and as spouses?

[To be continued…]