Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales

For other people known as Henry, Prince of Wales see Henry, Prince of Wales.
Henry Frederick
Prince of Wales; Duke of Rothesay

Henry Frederick in c. 1610
Born 19 February 1594
Stirling Castle, Scotland
Died 6 November 1612(1612-11-06) (aged 18)
Burial Westminster Abbey
House Stuart
Father James I of England
Mother Anne of Denmark

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612) was the elder son of King James I & VI and 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 when he died of typhoid fever. His younger brother Charles succeeded him as heir apparent to the English, Irish and Scottish thrones.

Life

Henry was born at Stirling Castle 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 father placed him in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and out of the care of the boy's mother, because James worried that the mother's tendency toward Catholicism might affect the son. Although the child's removal caused enormous tension between Anne and James, Henry remained under the care of Mar's family until 1603, when James became King of England and his family moved south.[1] Henry's baptism on 30 August 1594 was celebrated with complex theatrical entertainments written by William Fowler and a ceremony in a new Chapel Royal at Stirling purpose-built by William Schaw.[2]

One of his tutors until he went to England was Sir George Lauder of the Bass, a Privy Counsellor — described as the King's "familiar councillor"[3] — and he was also tutored in music by Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger. Henry's tutor Adam Newton continued to serve the Prince in England, and some Scottish servants from Stirling were retained, including David Murray.[4]

Henry, Prince of Wales, by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, c. 1603

The king greatly preferred the role of schoolmaster to that of father, and he wrote texts for the schooling of his children. James directed that Henry's household "should rather imitate a College than a Court",[5] or, as Sir Thomas Chaloner wrote in 1607, His Highness's household [...] was intended by the King for a courtly college or a collegiate court"[6] He passionately engaged in such physical pursuits as hawking, hunting, jousting and fencing,[7] and from a young age studied naval and military affairs and national issues, about which he often disagreed with his father. He also disapproved of the way his father conducted the royal court, disliked Robert Carr, a favourite of his father, and esteemed Sir Walter Raleigh, wishing him to be released from the Tower of London.[1]

The prince's popularity rose so high that it threatened his father. Relations between the two could be tense, and on occasion surfaced in public. At one point, the two were hunting near Royston when James criticised his son for lacking enthusiasm for the chase, and Henry initially moved to strike his father with a cane, but rode off. Most of the hunting party then followed the son.[5]

"Upright to the point of priggishness, he fined all who swore in his presence", according to Charles Carlton, a biographer of Charles I, who describes Henry as an "obdurate Protestant".[5] In addition to the alms box that Henry forced swearers to contribute to, he made sure his household attended church services. His religious views were influenced by the clerics in his household, who came largely from a tradition of politicised Calvinism. Henry listened humbly, attentively, and regularly to the sermons preached to his household, and once told his chaplain, Richard Milbourne, that he esteemed most the preachers whose attitude suggested, "Sir, you must hear me diligently: you must have a care to observe what I say."[6]

Henry is said to have disliked his younger brother, Charles, and to have teased him, although this derives from only one anecdote: when Charles was nine years of age, Henry snatched the hat off a bishop and put it on the younger child's head, then told his younger brother that when he became king he would make Charles Archbishop of Canterbury, and then Charles would have a long robe to hide his ugly rickety legs. Charles stamped on the cap and had to be dragged off in tears.[5]

Henry Frederick c. 1610 by Robert Peake the Elder.

With his father's accession to the throne of England in 1603, Henry at once became Duke of Cornwall. In 1610 he was further invested as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, thus for the first time uniting the six automatic and two traditional Scottish and English titles held by heirs-apparent to the two thrones.

As a young man, Henry showed great promise and was beginning to be active in leadership matters. Among his activities, he was responsible for the reassignment of Sir Thomas Dale to the Virginia Company of London's struggling colony in North America.

The Irish Gaelic lord of Inishowen, Sir Cahir O'Doherty, had applied to gain a position as a courtier in the household of Henry, to help him in his struggles against officials in Ireland. Unknown to Sir Cahir, on 19 April 1608, the day he launched O'Doherty's Rebellion by burning Derry, his application was approved.[8] Henry took an interest in the Kingdom of Ireland and was known to be supportive of the idea of a reconciliation with the former rebel Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, who had fled into exile during the Flight of the Earls. Because of this Tyrone and his entourage mourned when the Prince met his early death.[9]

Death

For more details on this topic, see Charles I of England.

Henry died from typhoid fever at the age of 18. (The diagnosis can be made with reasonable certainty from written records of the post-mortem examination, although at the time there were rumours of poisoning.) He was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Prince Henry's death was widely regarded as a tragedy for the nation. According to Charles Carlton, "Few heirs to the English throne have been as widely and deeply mourned as Prince Henry." His body lay in state at St. James's Palace for four weeks. On 7 December, over a thousand people walked in the mile-long cortege to Westminster Abbey to hear a two-hour sermon delivered by George Abbot, the Archbishop of Canterbury. As Henry's body was lowered into the ground, his chief servants broke their staves of office at the grave. An insane man ran naked through the mourners, yelling that he was the boy's ghost.[5]

Immediately after Henry's death, the prince's brother Charles fell ill, but he was the chief mourner at the funeral, which King James (who detested funerals) refused to attend.[5] All of Henry's automatic titles passed to Charles, who until then had lived in Henry's shadow. Four years later Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

Literature occasioned by the prince's death

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, aged 13 or 14.

Sermons

Henry's chaplain, Dr. Daniel Price, delivered a series of sermons about the young man's death. (Price borrowed from John Donne's unrelated The first Anniversary, published in 1611, and The second Anniversary, published in 1612, for some of his language and ideas.):[10]

Prose memorials

Price also wrote two prose "Anniversaries" on the death:

Verses

Within a few months of the prince's death, at least 32 poets had versified on it. In addition to those listed below, the writers included Sir Walter Ralegh (a friend), John Donne, Edward Herbert, Thomas Heywood and Henry King.[5]

These poems were published in 1612 (see 1612 in poetry):

These poems and songs were published in 1613 (see 1613 in poetry):

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography refers to a mourning song in memory of Prince Henry by John Ward remaining unpublished during the composer's lifetime;[12] however, a "newly composed" song on the same subject was included in his First Set of Madrigals (1613).[13]

Legacy

Both Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley, West Yorkshire, and Prince Henry's High School in Evesham, Worcestershire in England are named after him.

A road near Charlton House in London, home to his tutor Sir Adam Newton and finished just before he died, is named Prince Henry Road after him.

The developments in North America were at an important stage as Henry grew up. In the southern portion of the Colony of Virginia, three important locations were named in his honour:

Ancestry

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Coat of Arms of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Titles

Honours

Arms

As Prince of Wales, Henry Frederick bore the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points.[15]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
  1. 1 2 Fritze, Ronald H. and William B. Robison, Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, 1603–1689, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, retrieved via Google Books on 19 July 2009
  2. ↑ Bath, Michael, 'Rare Shewes, the Stirling Baptism of Prince Henry', in Journal of the Northern Renaissance, no.4 (2012)
  3. ↑ 'The Bass Rock in History' in Transactions of the East Lothian Antiquarian and Field Naturalists' Society, vol. 5, 1948: 55
  4. ↑ Roy Strong, Henry Prince of Wales, Thames & Hudson (1986), pp. 27–29
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carlton, Charles, Charles I: The Personal Monarch, second edition, Routledge, 1995, retrieved via Google Books on 19 July 2009
  6. 1 2 McCullough, Peter E., Sermons at Court: Politics and Religion in Elizabethan and Jacobean Preaching, Cambridge University Press, 1998, retrieved via Google Books on 19 July 2009
  7. ↑ Oxford DNB
  8. ↑ McCavitt p.136-37
  9. ↑ McCavitt p.203
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Smith, Albert James, editor, John Donne: The Critical Heritage, p 37, Routledge, 1995, ISBN 978-0-415-13412-5, retrieved via Google Books, 19 July 2009
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860634-6
  12. ↑ “Ward, John (bap. 1590, d. 1638),” Ian Payne in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, See online ed., ed. Lawrence Goldman, Oxford: OUP (subscription or UK public library membership required). http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28689 (accessed November 14, 2014).
  13. ↑ Wikisource:Ward, John (fl.1613) (DNB00)
  14. ↑ The Prince of Wales – Previous Princes of Wales
  15. ↑ Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family

Bibliography

  • Cornwallis, Charles (1738). Life and Character of Henry-Frederic, Prince of Wales. London. 
  • McCavitt, John (2002). The Flight of the Earls. Gill & MacMillan. 
  • Williamson, J. W. (1978). The Myth of the Conqueror: Prince Henry Stuart, a Study in 17th Century Personation. New York, AMS Press. 
  • Roy Strong (2000) [1986]. Henry, Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance. London: Pimlico. 
  • Timothy Wilks, ed. (2007). Prince Henry Revived: Image and Exemplarity in Early Modern England. Southampton Solent University: Paul Holberton Publishing. 
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Born: 19 February 1594 Died: 6 November 1612
British royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Edward Tudor		 Prince of Wales
1610–1612 		Succeeded by
Charles Stuart
Duke of Cornwall
1603–1612
Preceded by
James Stuart		 Duke of Rothesay
1594–1612
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