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Entry and coronation of Anne of Denmark

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Entry and coronation of Anne of Denmark

On 17 May 1590, Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen of Scotland. There was also a ceremony of joyous entry into Edinburgh on 19 May, an opportunity for spectacle and theatre and allegorical tableaux promoting civic and national identities, similar in many respects to those performed in many other European towns. Celebrations for the arrival of Anne of Denmark in Scotland had been planned and prepared for September 1589, when it was expected she would sail from Denmark with the admirals Peder Munk and Henrik Gyldenstierne. She was delayed by accidents and poor weather and James VI of Scotland joined her in Norway in November. They returned to Scotland in May 1590.

On 30 August 1589 James VI declared to the commissioners of his burgh towns that his marriage negotiations were concluded, and his bride Anne of Denmark was expected to arrive in Scotland. She would be accompanied by Danish aristocrats and dignitaries. James VI wanted the towns to advance £20,000 Scots for entertaining the new queen and her entourage.

In September and October 1589 James VI waited for Anne of Denmark at Seton Palace and at Craigmillar Castle. where he decided to sail to Norway after receiving Anne's letters. There are records for preparations and directions for the queen's arrival from these months made by Edinburgh town and the royal wardrobe. Six velvet saddles and two saddles of "lustered crêpe" were ordered for the queen's entourage, with costumes for two pages and two lackeys.

James VI wrote to his nobles and gentry on 30 August 1589 to send food from their estates for Anne's reception, asking the Laird of Arbuthnott and Sir Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch to provide "fat beef, mutton on foot, wild fowls and venison, to be delivered to Walter Naish Master of the Royal Larder. He also wrote to lairds, including John Gordon of Pitlurg, for hackney riding horses, for himself and the queen. The Privy Council of Scotland ordered that gunpowder should be reserved and not sold or exported, but be collected for use during the celebrations, in fireworks and cannon salutes.

The town council repaired the East Port or Netherbow, the gate on the Royal Mile that leads to Holyroodhouse. The stonework was harled with lime by specialists called "spargeonars". The painter, James Workman, refreshed and gilded the carved stone coats of arms. He painted the harled surface of the building's façade around the arms as imitation marble, and painted imitation stonework "ashlar lines" in the arched carriage way or pend. His brother John Workman painted props and costumes, and timber scaffold platforms were built for the pageants. Townspeople were requested to deliver their best table linen to Francis Galbraith, the king's pantry man, for the use of the Danish visitors. William Fairlie was to organise the making of a velvet canopy for the queen, and a presentation Bible and psalm book.

Similar royal entries had been provided for James VI in October 1579 when he left his childhood household at Stirling Castle, and for Mary, Queen of Scots, who returned from France in 1561. At Mary's entry the stages and "triumphs" throughout the town were built by the carpenter Patrick Schang and painted by Walter Binning. Town officials wore black velvet cloaks and crimson doublets, as did 12 men appointed to carry the queen's canopy, and young townsmen in taffeta costumes accompanied the "convoy" of the triumphal cart.

Queen Elizabeth planned a masque for her ambassador to present at Anne of Denmark's arrival. The masque would have comprised: six dancers wearing swords or falchions with helmets dressed with feather plumes, presumably representing classical warriors; six masked torch bearers with hats with feathers, their costumes party-coloured in the Stewart colours red and yellow; four speaking parts wearing wigs and flower chaplets. Only the account for making the costumes is known, and the subject of the masque was not recorded.

On 15 September the resident ambassador in Edinburgh William Ashby mentioned the "great preparation" in Leith to receive the queen. This included a covered walkway called a "trance" from the quayside steps to the King's Wark where there was a temporary wooden stair, platform, and entry into the Queen's Lodging on the first floor. These structures and the pathway would be covered with Turkish carpets and tapestry. At this time the scaffolding was usually secured in old barrels filled with sand. Old barrels were also used to form washing tubs for linen cloths and clothes. Ammunition for cannon salutes at the Queen's arrival was brought to Leith from Stirling Castle and Tantallon Castle by Archibald Gardiner and John Chisholm.

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