Elizabeth Stuart
Elizabeth Stuart, known as the Queen of Hearts, was the second child and eldest daughter of James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark. Born in 1596, she spent her early years at Linlithgow Palace before becoming a ward of various guardians following her father's ascension to the English throne in 1603. Her marriage to Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, on February 14, 1613, was significant for Protestant politics, and she moved to Heidelberg, where she became a devoted mother to twenty children. Elizabeth's life took a dramatic turn when Frederick accepted the crown of Bohemia in 1619, leading to their short-lived reign characterized by political strife and military defeat.
After their defeat at the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620, Elizabeth and Frederick fled to the Netherlands, where she became a symbol of Protestant heroism. Despite the challenges she faced, including the deaths of her husband and several children, Elizabeth maintained a strong presence in the political landscape of her time and remained influential through her progeny. Notably, her descendants included important figures in British history, such as King George I. Elizabeth Stuart's legacy is marked by her resilience and the romantic image she cultivated, despite her limited political power as the head of an exiled dynasty.
Elizabeth Stuart
Queen of Bohemia (r. 1619-1620)
- Born: August 19, 1596
- Birthplace: Falkland Castle, Fifeshire, Scotland
- Died: February 13, 1662
- Place of death: Leicester House, London, England
The daughter of King James I of England, Elizabeth married Palatine elector Frederick V in 1613. When she was exiled from the Palatinate and Bohemia in 1620, Elizabeth established herself as a symbol of the Protestant cause in Europe.
Early Life
Elizabeth Stuart was the second child and oldest daughter of James VI of Scotland (later James I of England ) and Anne of Denmark. She was placed in the care of Alexander—seventh Lord Livingston and, from 1600, the first earl of Linlithgow—and his wife, Helen, daughter of the eighth earl of Erroll. Elizabeth spent her early years at Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, a lovely residence midway between Stirling and Edinburgh.
When James was proclaimed king of England in 1603, Elizabeth was given a new guardian, Lady Frances Howard, widow of Henry Fitzgerald, eighth earl of Kildare, and wife of the eighth Lord Cobham. Lady Kildare’s guardianship was over almost as soon as it began, however. Her husband was implicated in two plots against the throne, the Main Plot, a conspiracy that aimed at putting Arbella Stuart on the English throne instead of James, and the Bye Plot, a plan to kidnap the king and force him to repeal anti-Catholic laws. Elizabeth became the ward of Lord Harington of Exton and his wife Anne and resided at Combe Abbey. Her new guardians provided her with an excellent education, as is indicated by her surviving childhood letters, written in English, French, and Italian.
Elizabeth’s marriage was important to England’s foreign policy. Although her parents, especially her mother, may have favored a Spanish marriage, James accepted a Protestant, Frederick V , elector Palatine of the Rhine, as his daughter’s suitor. Shortly before the wedding, Prince Henry, Elizabeth’s beloved older brother, died on November 6, 1612. His tragic death raised the possibility that the marriage might be postponed and that Elizabeth would remain in England. Frederick assured James that the wedding must proceed as scheduled, and the couple was married on February 14, 1613. John Donne wrote an epithalamion for the occasion, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest was performed as part of the wedding festivities. The choice to marry on Saint Valentine’s Day was pointedly symbolic. According to her admiring contemporary, James Howell, Elizabeth, because of her “winning princely comportment,” was known to her contemporaries as the Queen of Hearts.
Life’s Work
Elizabeth was accompanied to her new home by her former guardians, Lord and Lady Harington; to Elizabeth’s sorrow, Lord Harington became ill and died on the return journey. The new electress was welcomed to Heidelberg on June 17, 1613. Elizabeth had never managed her own household, and she incurred huge debts because of her generosity to servants and her expenditures on her wardrobe. During her residence in Germany, she mastered the language and later learned Dutch as well. She was then able to converse in six languages: English, French, Italian, German, Dutch, and Latin. Elizabeth’s first child, Frederick Henry (1614-1629) was born on January 14, 1614; her second son, Charles Lewis followed on January 1, 1618, and her eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia , was born of December 26 of that year.
In 1619, the Bohemian estates deposed Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria and offered Frederick the crown. Elizabeth was supposed to have pressed him to accept this offer because of her commitment to Protestantism, but this rumor was actually circulated by Elizabeth’s enemies. Christian of Anhalt, Frederick’s chief minister, was responsible for shaping foreign policy. The risk of taking the Bohemian crown was immense, because the deposed Bohemian king was a Habsburg, and the resources of both Spain and Austria would be used to oppose Frederick. Elizabeth was encouraged by George Abbott, archbishop of Canterbury, to believe that Frederick would enjoy the full support of England, but the promised support never materialized.
The royal couple left Heidelberg and arrived in Prague on October 31. Frederick was crowned king of Bohemia on November 4, and Elizabeth’s coronation occurred a few days later. On December 18, 1619, Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth child, christened Rupert. Frederick and Elizabeth were nicknamed the Winter King and Queen by the Jesuits, who accurately prophesied that their rule would last only through the winter: When the spring came, they would vanish as the winter snows themselves melted.
Frederick probably counted too much on the support of Great Britain, Denmark, Holland, and the German Protestant princes. He was decisively defeated on November 8, 1620, at the Battle of the White Mountain near Prague. Frederick lost not only Bohemia, but also his own lands in the Palatinate; his capital at Heidelberg was overrun by Spanish troops. Elizabeth’s fifth child, Maurice, was born on January 16, 1621, as the couple fled to the Netherlands. Frederick and Elizabeth took refuge at The Hague, where they were supported by grants from the Dutch and English governments.
Elizabeth became a Protestant heroine, encouraging the cult of the Queen of Hearts. The diplomat Sir Thomas Roe swore to serve her until death, with the added pledge that he would be converted to dust and ashes at her feet. Aristocrats like Christian of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Germany, and the third earl of Essex in England became devoted to her cause.
Elizabeth’s already large family continued to grow even larger, and she ultimately gave birth to twenty children. In 1629, her eldest son was drowned, and in 1631, she lost her daughter Charlotte, aged three. In 1632, the Swedish king Gustavus II Adolphus fell at Lützen, and a few days afterward, Frederick died at Mainz on November 29, 1632. Charles I invited Elizabeth to England after Frederick’s death, but Elizabeth declined, because she realized that if she went to England she would be giving up all dynastic claims to the Palatinate. Elizabeth’s sons, Charles Lewis and Rupert, continued to fight to regain the Palatinate.
When civil war broke out in England between the Parliament and the king, Charles Lewis supported the Parliamentary side, while Rupert and his younger brother Maurice fought for the Royalists. Charles Lewis was in England when Charles I was executed. Even after the restoration of the Palatinate dynasty by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, Elizabeth remained in The Hague. She never returned to the Palatinate because of a disagreement with Charles Lewis over lands relating to her jointure.
In 1661, after the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, Elizabeth returned to England against the wishes of Charles II, staying initially with her old friend, William, earl of Craven. After attempting to move to a residence of her own, she died on February 13, 1662, at Leicester House. On February 17, 1662, she was buried in Westminster Abbey near her beloved brother, Prince Henry.
Significance
As the female head of an exiled dynasty, Elizabeth Stuart had few material resources and no real political power. Nevertheless, by personality and charm, she managed to create for herself a romantic image that inspired great loyalty. Perhaps her greatest legacy, however, lies in the many paths followed by her many children.
Elizabeth’s son Edward converted to Catholicism, as did her daughter Louise Hollandine. Princess Elizabeth, the elder Elizabeth’s brilliant namesake, studied philosophy and science and became a devoted friend to René Descartes. After his death, the princess went to Brandenburg and became an abbess of the Protestant ecclesiastical community of Herford. Sophia, Elizabeth Stuart’s youngest daughter, portrayed her mother in her memoirs as more concerned about her dogs and monkeys than her children. Elizabeth had opposed Sophia’s marriage to Ernst August of Brunswick in 1658, not foreseeing that the suitor she thought unsuitable would become elector of Hanover. The son of Sophia and Ernst became King George I of England. Prince Rupert became the first lord of the British admiralty after serving as a naval commander in the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. He was the first governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Bibliography
Barroll, Leeds. Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. Excellent biography of Anna, consort to James I and mother of Elizabeth Stuart. Important discussion of the politics surrounding Elizabeth’s marriage to Frederick.
Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. Letters of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. Compiled by L. M. Baker with an introduction by C. V. Wedgwood. London: The Bodley Head, 1953. Illustrates the warm childhood relationship between Elizabeth and Henry, Prince of Wales, Elizabeth’s older brother, and her interest in European politics.
Green, Mary Anne Everett. Elizabeth: Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia. Rev. ed. London: Methuen, 1909. Pioneering work on Elizabeth’s biography with extensive quotes from the State Papers of Great Britain.
Norbrook, David. “The Masque of Truth: Court Entertainments and International Protestant Politics in the Early Stuart Period.” Seventeenth Century 1 (1986): 81-110. Study of the politics of court masques and other entertainments presented at the Stuart court.
Oman, Carola. Elizabeth of Bohemia. Rev. ed. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1964. Standard biography of Elizabeth with useful genealogical table.
Ross, Josephine. The Winter Queen: The Story of Elizabeth Stuart. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1979. Sympathetic portrait of Elizabeth’s life.
Schreiber, R. E. The First Carlisle: Sir James Hay, First Earl of Carlisle as Courtier, Diplomat, and Entrepreneur, 1580-1636. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1984. Biography of an important political supporter to the exiled queen.
Smuts, R. Malcolm. Culture and Power in England, 1585-1685. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Discussion of the social and political events transpiring in England during Elizabeth’s lifetime.
Strachan, M. Sir Thomas Roe, 1581-1644: A Life. Salisbury, Wiltshire, England: Michael Russell, 1989. Biography of British diplomat who corresponded with Elizabeth during her years in exile.
Werner, H. “The Hector of Germanie: Or, The Palsgrave, Prince Elector and Anglo-German Relations of Early Stuart England: The View from the Popular Stage.” In The Stuart Court and Europe, edited by R. Malcolm Smuts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Analysis of the iconography and symbolism that developed around Elizabeth and her husband Frederick.