KING CHARLES I.

CHAPTER I.

HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH.

1600-1622

Born in Scotland.--The circumstance explained.--Princess
Anne.--Royal marriages.--Getting married by proxy.--James
thwarted.--Getting married by proxy.--James thwarted.--James
in Copenhagen.--Charles's feeble infancy.--Death of
Elizabeth.--Accession of James to the English crown.--Second
sight.--Prediction fulfilled.--An explanation.--Charles's
titles of nobility.--Charles's governess.--Windsor Castle.--Journey
to London.--A mother's love.--Rejoicings.--Charles's continued
feebleness.--His progress in learning.--Charles improves in
health.--Death of his brother.--Charles's love of athletic
sports.--Buckingham.--Buckingham's style of living.--Royalty.--True
character of royalty.--The king and Buckingham.--Indecent
correspondence.--Buckingham's pig.--James's petulance.--The story of
Gib.--The king's frankness.--Glitter of royalty.--The appearance.--The
reality.

King Charles the First was born in Scotland. It may perhaps surprise
the reader that an English king should be born in Scotland. The
explanation is this:

They who have read the history of Mary Queen of Scots, will remember
that it was the great end and aim of her life to unite the crowns of
England and Scotland in her own family. Queen Elizabeth was then Queen
of England. She lived and died unmarried. Queen Mary and a young man
named Lord Darnley were the next heirs. It was uncertain which of the
two had the strongest claim. To prevent a dispute, by uniting these
claims, Mary made Darnley her husband. They had a son, who, after the
death of his father and mother, was acknowledged to be the heir to the
British throne, whenever Elizabeth's life should end. In the mean
time he remained King of Scotland. His name was James. He married a
princess of Denmark; and his child, who afterward was King Charles the
First of England, was born before he left his native realm.

King Charles's mother was, as has been already said, a princess of
Denmark. Her name was Anne. The circumstances of her marriage to King
James were quite extraordinary, and attracted great attention at the
time. It is, in some sense, a matter of principle among kings and
queens, that they must only marry persons of royal rank, like
themselves; and as they have very little opportunity of visiting each
other, residing as they do in such distant capitals, they generally
choose their consorts by the reports which come to