Order of the Garter
The Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III in 1348 and regarded as the most prestigious British order of chivalry in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of England's patron saint. Appointments are made at the Sovereign's sole discretion. Membership of the Order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, no more than 24 living members, or Companions; the order includes supernumerary knights and ladies. New appointments to the Order of the Garter are announced on St George's Day, as Saint George is the order's patron saint; the order's emblem is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense in gold lettering. Members of the order wear it on ceremonial occasions. King Edward III founded the Order of the Garter around the time of his claim to the French throne; the traditional year of foundation is given as 1348. However, the Complete Peerage, under "The Founders of the Order of the Garter", states the order was first instituted on 23 April 1344, listing each founding member as knighted in 1344.
The list includes Sir Sanchet D'Abrichecourt, who died on 20 October 1345. Other dates from 1344 to 1351 have been proposed; the King's wardrobe account shows Garter habits first issued in the autumn of 1348. Its original statutes required that each member of the Order be a knight and some of the initial members listed were only knighted that year; the foundation is to have been inspired by the Spanish Order of the Band, established in about 1330. The earliest written mention of the Order is found in Tirant lo Blanch, a chivalric romance written in Catalan by Valencian Joanot Martorell, it was first published in 1490. This book devotes a chapter to the description of the origin of the Order of the Garter. At the time of its foundation, the Order consisted of King Edward III, together with 25 Founder Knights, listed in ascending order of stall number in St George's Chapel: King Edward III Edward, the Black Prince, Prince of Wales Henry of Grosmont, Earl of Lancaster Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford William de Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March John de Lisle, 2nd Baron Lisle Bartholomew de Burghersh, 2nd Baron Burghersh John de Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp John de Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun Sir Hugh de Courtenay Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent John de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Rotherfield Sir Richard Fitz-Simon Sir Miles Stapleton Sir Thomas Wale Sir Hugh Wrottesley Sir Nele Loring Sir John Chandos Sir James Audley Sir Otho Holand Sir Henry Eam Sir Sanchet D'Abrichecourt Sir Walter Paveley They are all depicted in individual portraits in the Bruges Garter Book made c.
1431, now in the British Library. Various legends account for the origin of the Order; the most popular involves the "Countess of Salisbury", whose garter is said to have slipped from her leg while she was dancing at a court ball at Calais. When the surrounding courtiers sniggered, the king picked it up and returned it to her, exclaiming, "Honi soit qui mal y pense!", the phrase that has become the motto of the Order. However, the earliest written version of this story dates from the 1460s, it seems to have been conceived as a retrospective explanation for the adoption of what was seen as an item of female underclothing as the symbol of a band of knights. In fact, at the time of the Order's establishment in the mid-14th century, the garter was predominantly an item of male attire. According to another legend, King Richard I was inspired in the 12th century by St George the Martyr while fighting in the Crusades to tie garters around the legs of his knights, who subsequently won the battle. King Edward recalled the event in the 14th century when he founded the Order.
This story is recounted in a letter to the Annual Register in 1774: In Rastel's Chronicle, I. vi. under the life of Edward III is the following curious passage: "About the 19 yere of this kinge, he made a solempne feest at Wyndesore, a greate justes and turnament, where he devysed, perfyted substanegally, the order of the knyghtes of the garter. And afterwarde they were called the knyghtes of the blew thonge." I am obliged for this passage to Esq.. Hence some affirm, that the origin of the garter is to be dated from Richard I* and that it owes its pomp and splendor to Edward III. *Winstanley, in his Life of Edward III says that the original book of the institution deduces the invention from King Richard the First. The motto in fact refers to Edward's claim to the French throne, the Order of the Garter was created to help pursue this claim; the use of the garter as an emblem may have derived from straps used t
Henry IV of France
Henry IV known by the epithet Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, he was assassinated in 1610 by François Ravaillac, a fanatical Catholic, was succeeded by his son Louis XIII. The son of Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme and Jeanne d'Albret, the Queen of Navarre, Henry was baptised as a Catholic but raised in the Protestant faith by his mother, he inherited the throne of Navarre in 1572 on his mother's death. As a Huguenot, Henry was involved in the French Wars of Religion escaping assassination in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, he led Protestant forces against the royal army. Henry IV and his predecessor Henry III of France are both direct descendants of the Saint-King Louis IX. Henry III belonged to the House of Valois, descended from Philip III of France, elder son of Saint Louis; as Head of the House of Bourbon, Henry was "first prince of the blood."
Upon the death of his brother-in-law and distant cousin Henry III in 1589, Henry was called to the French succession by the Salic law. He kept the Protestant faith and had to fight against the Catholic League, which denied that he could wear France's crown as a Protestant. To obtain mastery over his kingdom, after four years of stalemate, he found it prudent to abjure the Calvinist faith; as a pragmatic politician, he displayed an unusual religious tolerance for the era. Notably, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes, which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants, thereby ending the Wars of Religion. Considered a usurper by some Catholics and a traitor by some Protestants, Henry became target of at least 12 assassination attempts. An unpopular king among his contemporaries, Henry gained more status after his death, he was admired for his conversion to Catholicism. The "Good King Henry" was remembered for his geniality and his great concern about the welfare of his subjects. An active ruler, he worked to regularise state finance, promote agriculture, eliminate corruption and encourage education.
During his reign, the French colonization of the Americas began with the foundation of the colony of Acadia and its capital Port-Royal. He was celebrated in Voltaire's Henriade. Henry de Bourbon was born in Pau, the capital of the joint Kingdom of Navarre with the sovereign principality of Béarn, his parents were Queen Joan III of Navarre and her consort, Antoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, King of Navarre. Although baptised as a Roman Catholic, Henry was raised as a Protestant by his mother, who had declared Calvinism the religion of Navarre; as a teenager, Henry joined the Huguenot forces in the French Wars of Religion. On 9 June 1572, upon his mother's death, the 19-year-old became King of Navarre. At Queen Joan's death, it was arranged for Henry to marry Margaret of Valois, daughter of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici; the wedding took place in Paris on 18 August 1572 on the parvis of Notre Dame Cathedral. On 24 August, the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre began in Paris. Several thousand Protestants who had come to Paris for Henry's wedding were killed, as well as thousands more throughout the country in the days that followed.
Henry narrowly escaped death thanks to the help of his wife and his promise to convert to Catholicism. He was forced to live at the court of France, but he escaped in early 1576. On 5 February of that year, he formally abjured Catholicism at Tours and rejoined the Protestant forces in the military conflict, he named Catherine de Bourbon, regent of Béarn. Catherine held the regency for nearly thirty years. Henry became heir presumptive to the French throne in 1584 upon the death of Francis, Duke of Anjou and heir to the Catholic Henry III, who had succeeded Charles IX in 1574; because Henry of Navarre was the next senior agnatic descendant of King Louis IX, King Henry III had no choice but to recognise him as the legitimate successor. Salic law barred the king's sisters and all others who could claim descent through only the female line from inheriting. Since Henry of Navarre was a Huguenot, the issue was not considered settled in many quarters of the country, France was plunged into a phase of the Wars of Religion known as the War of the Three Henries.
Henry III and Henry of Navarre were two of these Henries. The third was Henry I, Duke of Guise, who pushed for complete suppression of the Huguenots and had much support among Catholic loyalists. Political disagreements among the parties set off a series of campaigns and counter-campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Coutras. In December 1588, Henry III had Henry I of Guise murdered, along with his brother, Cardinal de Guise. Henry III thought that the removal of the brothers would restore his authority. However, the populace rose against him. In several cities, the title of the king was no longer recognized, his power was limited to Blois and the surrounding districts. In the general chaos, Henry III relied on King Henry of his Huguenots; the two kings were united by a common interest—to win France from the Catholic League. Henry III acknowledged the King of Navarre as a true subject and Frenchman, not a fanatic Huguenot aiming for the destruction of
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council known as the Privy Council of the United Kingdom or just the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords; the Privy Council formally advises the sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, corporately it issues executive instruments known as Orders in Council, which among other powers enact Acts of Parliament. The Council holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council used to regulate certain public institutions; the Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, city or borough status to local authorities. Otherwise, the Privy Council's powers have now been replaced by its executive committee, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Certain judicial functions are performed by the Queen-in-Council, although in practice its actual work of hearing and deciding upon cases is carried out day-to-day by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The Judicial Committee consists of senior judges appointed as Privy Counsellors: predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth. The Privy Council acted as the High Court of Appeal for the entire British Empire, continues to hear appeals from the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some independent Commonwealth states; the Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland and the Privy Council of England. The key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below: In Anglo-Saxon England, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a royal court or curia regis, which consisted of magnates and high officials; the body concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation and justice. Different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court; the courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, while Parliament became the supreme legislature of the kingdom.
The Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, rather than on the advice of Parliament, were accepted as valid. Powerful sovereigns used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. For example, a committee of the Council—which became the Court of the Star Chamber—was during the 15th century permitted to inflict any punishment except death, without being bound by normal court procedure. During Henry VIII's reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation; the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIII's death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became a administrative body; the Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, which evolved into the modern Cabinet. By the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, Privy Council had been abolished.
The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws and to direct administrative policy. The forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons. In 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector, the Council was reduced to between thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs; the Council became known as the Protector's Privy Council. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protector's Council was abolished. Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I more power transferred to this committee, it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of the word privy in Privy Council is an obsolete meaning "of or pertaining to a particular person or persons, one's own". It is related to the word private, derives from the French word privé; the sovereign, when acting on the Council's advice, is known as the King-in-Council or Queen-in-Council. The members of the Council are collectively known as The Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council; the chief officer of the body is the Lord President of the Council, the fourth highest Great Officer of State, a Cabinet member and either the Leader of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons. Another important official is the Clerk, whose signature is appended to all orders made in the Council. Both Privy Counsellor and Privy Councillor may be used to refer to a member of the Council; the former, however, is preferred by the Privy Council Office, emphasising English usage of the term Counsellor a
William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford
William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, KG, PC was a British courtier and statesman of Anglo-Dutch descent. He occupied senior ambassadorial posts at Madrid and Paris, served as Secretary of State in both the Northern and Southern Departments, he is credited with the earliest-known introduction of the Lombardy poplar to England in 1754. He was a personal friend of such major cultural figures as the actor David Garrick, the novelist Laurence Sterne, the French playwright Beaumarchais. George III valued Rochford as his expert advisor on foreign affairs in the early 1770s, as a loyal and hard-working cabinet minister. Rochford was the only British secretary of state between 1760 and 1778, a career diplomat. Rochford played key roles in the Manila Ransom negotiation with Spain, the French acquisition of Corsica, the Falkland Islands crisis of 1770–1, the crisis following the Swedish Revolution of 1772, the aftermath of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. In addition to his work as foreign secretary, he carried a heavy burden of domestic responsibilities in the early 1770s Irish affairs.
He was a key member of the North administration in the early phase of the American War of Independence. Illness and a political scandal forced him from office in November 1775. William Henry Nassau van Zuylestein was born in 1717, the elder son of Frederick Nassau van Zuylestein, 3rd Earl of Rochford, his wife Elizabeth Savage, daughter of the 4th Earl Rivers, his ancestry was Anglo-Dutch, descended in an illegitimate line from William the Silent's son Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Rochford's grandfather and great-grandfather both had English wives, ladies-in-waiting at the courts of William II and William III of Orange, his grandfather was a close companion of William III, accompanying him to England in the Glorious Revolution of 1688–9, rewarded with the earldom of Rochford. Educated at Eton College as Viscount Tunbridge, Rochford's school friends included three future secretaries of state, Conway and Sandwich. However, he made a lifelong enemy at Eton of the Prime minister's son, the influential writer Horace Walpole.
Instead of going to university, Rochford was sent to the Academy at Geneva, where he lodged with the family of Professor Antoine Maurice. From Geneva he emerged as fluent in French as he was in Dutch and English, succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Rochford in 1738 at the age of twenty-one. Rochford was appointed a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George II in 1739 and served in this role until 1749, he inherited strong Whig principles and was a loyal supporter of the Hanoverian Protestant succession, but admired Sir Robert Walpole's peaceful foreign policy. At the time of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion he offered to raise a regiment, he was active in Essex politics in the government's interest, but he was no orator and made no impression in the House of Lords. He was appointed Vice-Admiral of Essex in 1748. Though ambitious for high political office, he avoided the factions and cultivated the King's son, the Duke of Cumberland, as his patron. Cumberland lobbied for Rochford to be given a diplomatic post at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, he was named Envoy to Turin in January 1749.
Rochford arrived at Turin on 9 September 1749. This was still the most important of the Italian courts for British foreign policy at this time, he started as Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, the highest rank in the British diplomatic service short of ambassador. However, he had agreed to accept an ordinary Envoy's salary for a probationary period, this gave him a strong incentive to show zeal and become a professional diplomat, his first negotiations, on behalf of a company of English miners and the Protestant Vaudois communities of the Piedmont Alps, were successful, he obtained his full salary. He ingratiated himself with the king, Carlo-Emmanuele III, by accompanying him on early morning hunting rides. Rochford made useful friends at court, was regarded by the diplomatic corps at Turin, he played a useful role in the complex negotiations for the Treaty of Aranjuez. He made a tour of Italy in 1753 and used a spy to gain intelligence of the Young Pretender's court at Rome, he made full use of British consuls in the region to obtain information about trade matters and French involvement in Corsica, rewarding them with the removal of the duty on British shipping at Villafranca.
Recalled from Turin for the duration of the Seven Years' War, Rochford resumed his career as a courtier, appointed by George II as First Lord of the Bedchamber and Groom of the Stole prestigious posts. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1755; as Lord Lieutenant of Essex from May 1756, Rochford was involved in forming the Essex regiment of militia, becoming its Colonel in November 1759. At the death of George II in 1760 Rochford lost his lucrative court posts, but was compensated with a generous pension, he spent the early 1760s involved in local Essex politics and ‘improved’ the Park at his St Osyth estate, adding a formal Dutch garden and a maze. However, his landed income was small for an earl, a return to diplomacy became a financial necessity, he was named Ambassador to Spain on 18 June 1763. Rochford's secret instructions for his Madrid embassy were concerned with countering French influence over the king, Carlos III, reporting on Spain's naval reconstruction after her late and disastrous entry into the Seven Years' War.
His first major negotiation resulted from Spain's expulsion of British logwood cutters from the Yucatá
William Herbert, 2nd Marquess of Powis
William Herbert, 2nd Marquess of Powis was a Welsh aristocrat and Jacobite supporter. He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, by Lady Elizabeth, younger daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester; until 1722 he was known as Viscount Montgomery. At the coronation of James II, 23 April 1685, he acted as page of honour. From 8 May 1687 until November 1688 he was colonel of a regiment of foot, was deputy-lieutenant of six Welsh counties from 26 February to 23 December 1688. After the Glorious Revolution, efforts on behalf of James II resulted in Montgomery's committal to the Tower of London on 6 May 1689 and he was not given bail until 7 November. On 5 July 1690, again on 23 March 1696 a proclamation, accompanied by a reward of £1,000, was issued for his apprehension. In May 1696 he was outlawed, but a technical error on the part of the sheriffs of London enabled him to retain his estate, he surrendered on 15 December 1696, was taken to Newgate Prison. Though he was reported to have given information concerning the plot, he remained there until 19 June 1697, when during an outbreak of gaol fever he was released on bail.
Montgomery was not tried, in November 1700 was ill at Ghent. In January 1701 King William III allowed him to travel from Flanders in order to raise money on his estate and pay debts, he paid a second visit to London on 25 May 1703, surrendered himself, was admitted to bail. Financial difficulties led him to sell his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields to the Duke of Newcastle in May 1705, he was living in Powis House in Great Ormond Street in 1708. Arrested again during the Jacobite alarm in September 1715, Montgomery was considered harmless, he was restored to his titles and estates, including Powis Castle, was summoned to parliament as Marquess of Powis on 8 October 1722. By Jacobites he was styled Duke of Powis, he and his eldest son prepared a statement of their claim to that title, he died on 22 October 1745. Montgomery married Mary, eldest daughter and coheiress of Sir Thomas Preston, bart. of Furness. She died on 8 January 1724, was buried at Hendon, where the marquess had property. By her Powis had four daugnters.
William, the eldest son, died unmarried on 8 March 1748. Edward, the younger son, died in 1734, having married Henrietta, daughter of James Waldegrave, 1st Earl Waldegrave, by whom he had an only child, born posthumously. Barbara married a kinsman, Henry Arthur Herbert, created Baron Herbert of Cherbury in 1743, Earl of Powis in 1748. Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed.. "Herbert, William". Dictionary of National Biography. 26. London: Smith, Elder & Co
George Payne (Freemason)
George Payne was an English official of the Exchequer and Freemason. He was the son of Frances Kendrick or Kenrick, he was appointed Secretary to the Tax Office 20 July 1732, Head Secretary 8 April 1743 Payne became the second Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1718. After being succeeded by John Desaguliers in 1719, he was again Grand Master in 1720. During this time he compiled The Constitutions of the Free-masons, printed in 1722 or 1723, he was deputy Master in 1725, when the Duke of Richmond was both Master of the Lodge and Grand Master. Payne and his wife Anne Martha Batson lived in St Stephen's Court, New Palace Yard, Westminster, they were survived by none of their children but adopted his god-daughter and great-niece, Eliza Payne, who married Thomas Lucas John Julius Angerstein. Payne's brother Thomas Payne was rector of Holme Lacy Herefordshire for Frances Scudamore wife of Henry Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort and the wife of Charles FitzRoy-Scudamore. Thomas's nine recorded children included Frances Compton Countess of Northampton and Catherine Seymour, wife of Lord Francis Seymour, Dean of Wells.
The First Grand Lodge 10,000 Famous Freemasons.
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was Queen consort of Scotland and Ireland by marriage to King James VI and I. The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at age 15 and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I, she demonstrated an independent streak and a willingness to use factional Scottish politics in her conflicts with James over the custody of Prince Henry and his treatment of her friend Beatrix Ruthven. Anne appears to have loved James at first, but the couple drifted and lived apart, though mutual respect and a degree of affection survived. In England, Anne shifted her energies from factional politics to patronage of the arts and constructed her own magnificent court, hosting one of the richest cultural salons in Europe. After 1612, she suffered sustained bouts of ill health and withdrew from the centre of court life. Though she was reported to have been a Protestant at the time of her death, evidence suggests that she may have converted to Catholicism at some point in her life.
Historians have traditionally dismissed Anne as a lightweight queen and self-indulgent. However, recent reappraisals acknowledge Anne's assertive independence and, in particular, her dynamic significance as a patron of the arts during the Jacobean age. Anne was born on 12 December 1574 at the castle of Skanderborg on the Jutland Peninsula in the Kingdom of Denmark, her birth came as a blow to her father, King Frederick II of Denmark, hoping for a son. But her mother, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, was only 17. With her older sister, Anne was sent to be raised at Güstrow by her maternal grandparents, the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg. Compared with the roving Danish court, where King Frederick was notorious for gargantuan meals, heavy drinking and restless behaviour, Güstrow provided Anne with a frugal and stable life during her early childhood. Christian was sent to be brought up at Güstrow but two years in 1579, the Rigsraad requested his removal to Denmark, Anne and Elizabeth returned with him.
Anne enjoyed a close, happy family upbringing in Denmark, thanks to Queen Sophie, who nursed the children through their illnesses herself. Suitors from all over Europe sought the hands of Anne and Elizabeth in marriage, including James VI of Scotland, who favoured Denmark as a kingdom reformed in religion and a profitable trading partner. James' other serious possibility, though 8 years his senior, was Catherine, sister of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre, favoured by Elizabeth I of England. Scottish ambassadors had at first concentrated their suit on the oldest daughter, but Frederick betrothed Elizabeth to Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick, promising the Scots instead that "for the second Anna, if the King did like her, he should have her." The constitutional position of Sophie, Anne's mother, became difficult after Frederick's death in 1588, when she found herself in a power struggle with the Rigsraad for control of King Christian. As a matchmaker, Sophie proved more diligent than Frederick and, overcoming sticking points on the amount of the dowry and the status of Orkney, she sealed the agreement by July 1589.
Anne herself seems to have been thrilled with the match. On 28 July 1589, the English spy Thomas Fowler reported that Anne was "so far in love with the King's Majesty as it were death to her to have it broken off and hath made good proof divers ways of her affection which his Majestie is apt in no way to requite." Fowler's insinuation, that James preferred men to women, would have been hidden from the fourteen-year-old Anne, who devotedly embroidered shirts for her fiancé while three hundred tailors worked on her wedding dress. Whatever the truth of the rumours, James required. "God is my witness", he explained, "I could have abstained longer than the weal of my country could have permitted, my long delay bred in the breasts of many a great jealousy of my inability, as if I were a barren stock." On 20 August 1589, Anne was married by proxy to James at Kronborg Castle, the ceremony ending with James' representative, George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, sitting next to Anne on the bridal bed. Anne set sail for Scotland within 10 days, but her fleet was beset by a series of misadventures being forced back to the coast of Norway, from where she travelled by land to Oslo for refuge, accompanied by the Earl Marischal and others of the Scottish and Danish embassies.
On 12 September, Lord Dingwall had landed at Leith, reporting that "he had come in company with the Queen's fleet three hundred miles, was separated from them by a great storm: it was feared that the Queen was in danger upon the seas." Alarmed, James called for national fasting and public prayers, kept watch on the Firth of Forth for Anne's arrival, wrote several songs, one comparing the situation to the plight of Hero and Leander, sent a search party out for Anne, carrying a letter he had written to her in French: "Only to one who knows me as well as his own reflection in a glass could I express, my dearest love, the fears which I have experienced because of the contrary winds and violent storms since you embarked...". Informed in October that the Danes had abandoned the crossing for the winter, in what Willson calls "the one romantic episode of his life", James sailed from Leith with a three-hundred-strong retinue to fetch his wife arriving in Oslo on 19 November after travelling by land from Flekkefjord via Tønsberg.
According to a Scottish account, he p
