Anne of Denmark and her African servants (original) (raw)

Anne of Denmark (1574-1619) was the wife of James VI and I, King of Scotland, and King of England after the Union of Crowns. Several recent scholars prefer to spell her name "Anna" in accordance with most examples of her signature. In 1617, she was depicted in a painting by Paul van Somer with an African servant holding her horse at Oatlands Palace. There are archival records of Africans or people of African descent, often called "Moors" or "Moirs", in her service. One of the first publications to mention Anne of Denmark's "Moir" in Scotland was edited by James Thomson Gibson-Craig in 1828.