Elizabeth Stuart

ELIZABETH STUART~THE WINTER QUEEN

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Grandaughter of Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth Stuart was the second child of King James I of England (VI of Scotland) and Queen Anne.

She was their only daughter to survive past infancy.

Born in Scotland on 19th August 1596, she was named Elizabeth in honour of the then-ageing English Queen, Elizabeth I, who had remained childless.

Elizabeth had a happy upbringing at Linlithgow Palace, one of the grandest of Scotland’s royal residences.

When her Father ascended to the English throne, in 1603, Elizabeth was handed over to the care of Lord and Lady Harrington, and took up residence at Coombe Abbey, Warwickshire.

Lord Harrington indulged Elizabeth's passion for nature, and in a secluded wilderness at the end of the park, arranged the construction of a number of little wooden buildings.

These housed Elizabeth's paintings and stuffed animals.

He also established an aviary and a miniature menagerie (she continued to collect various animals throughout her life) which was later expanded to include meadows stocked with the smallest breeds of cattle from Jersey, Shetland and the Isle of Man.

Elizabeth referred to her miniature world as ‘her Territories’ and ‘her Fairy farm’ and she employed a poor family as keeper of her birds and beasts.

As King of England, as well as of Scotland, James I had a wider responsibility than before his succession.

The arrangement of judicious marriages for his children, offered up a solution which could potentially fulfill his ambitions.

By the age of 12 Elizabeth’s political value was such that a member of the influential Hapsburg family, King Philip III of Spain, put himself forward as a eligible suitor.

James’ mind, however, was set on Protestant Frederick V~ Prince Palatine of the Rhine, in the Holy Roman Empire.

Luckily for Elizabeth, Frederick was her own age, handsome, athletic, of a winning personality and generous.

In many ways he resembled her brother Henry, with whom she developed a deep friendship.

Frederick could not fail to love Elizabeth, although she was initially more reserved.

On Valentine’s Day, 14th February 1613, a spectacular wedding ceremony took place in the Royal Chapel at Whitehall Palace, in London.

The 16-year-old bride was resplendent in a cloth of shimmering silver, lined with taffeta.

Many diamonds of estimable value were embroidered upon her sleeves, which dazzled the eyes of all the beholders.

She wore a crown adorned with glittering diamonds, and other precious stones ‘so thick beset, that they stood like shining pinnacles, upon her amber coloured hair.’

The handsome bridegroom, also aged 16, was attired in a fitting outfit to complement his stunning bride.

His white satin ensemble was richly embellished with pearls, symbolising purity and innocence, and signifying a cosmic unity, a spiritual relationship between the two young people.

At the time of their marriage, Elizabeth and her young groom Frederick V, were destined to achieve international power and influence.

However, by 1621, Elizabeth was in exile, destined to be remembered as the ‘The Winter Queen’, a derogatory title that reflects the short duration of her rule in Bohemia, her union with Frederick deemed a political failure.

For almost two months after the Wedding, the young couple were greeted and feasted in London, before setting out on their journey to their new home in Heidelberg, in south west Germany.

Together with their retinue, they processed to the south east coast via Greenwich, Rochester and Canterbury, eventually sailing on the ‘Prince Royal’ from Margate to Flushing in Holland on 25th April 1613.

Six years later in late 1619, Frederick and Elizabeth were crowned King and Queen of Bohemia - today part of the Czech Republic.

Barely a year after receiving the crown, the couple were defeated at the Battle of the White Mountain, and driven from their court in Prague.

They were deprived of all their Palatine lands by the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II

During their separations, whilst Frederick was on campaign, the couple wrote to each other three or four times a week, sometimes even twice in one day.

Frederick describes Elizabeth as his ‘only heart’, he ‘kisses her mouth a million times in imagination’.

Frederick died unexpectedly from the plague at Mainz, while on military campaign in 1632.

So long as she lived, Elizabeth’s rooms were draped in black, and in memory of Frederick, special days were set apart for fasting.

She later wrote

‘though I make a good show in company, yet I can never have any more contentment in this world, for God knows I had none but that which I took in his company, and he did the same in mine.’

Elizabeth lived on in the Dutch Republic for a further 30 years, in voluntary exile, returning to England in 1661, a year before her death, and a year after the restoration of her nephew, Charles II.

Throughout her years of exile, at home and abroad, she was loved as the original ‘Queen of Hearts’.

Forty years after Elizabeth’s death, The Act of Settlement of 1701 named the Electress Sophia of Hanover, (Elizabeth's daughter) as the most direct Protestant heir to the English throne.

Her grandson, Prince George of Hanover, would succeed to the throne in 1714, after the death of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch.

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https://www.rmg.co.uk/.../elizabeth-stuart-bohemia-winter...

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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Princess Elizabeth aged 7 ~ by Robert Peake 1603