Sophia Stuart (22 June 1606 – 23 June 1606) was the fourth daughter and last of seven children of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark.
Contents
Biography
Anne of Denmark was rumoured to be pregnant at the end of October 1605. Robert Naunton wrote that courtiers were uncertain because her figure was concealed by her farthingale. In May 1606 she stopped holding audiences with ambassadors including Zorzi Giustinian.
Anne of Denmark prepared herself for childbirth at the Palace of Placentia, or Greenwich Palace in May. Her lady in waiting, Audrey Walsingham, bought linen and lacework to the value of £614 for her lying-in. Anne's lodging was furnished with a cupboard displaying silver gilt plate, including a crystal jug with silver mounts that had been a New Year's Day gift to Elizabeth I in 1577.
Sophia Stuart was born early in the morning of Sunday 22 June 1606. Anne was attended by a midwife, Alice Dennis, and Peter Chamberlen, the surgeon to the queen, who had both helped at the birth of Mary Stuart in April 1605. Chamberlen is thought to have been the inventor of birthing forceps. Anne gave him a diamond ring for his efforts.
Sophia grew "verye weake" and was baptised by James Montague, Dean of the Chapel Royal. She was named after her maternal grandmother Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. Ninth and last child of James I of England and Queen Anne of Denmark, her body was carried on the Thames in a barge covered with black velvet to be buried in Westminster Abbey on 26 June.