Jane Drummond, Countess of Roxburghe (c.1585–1643) was a Scottish courtier, a member of the household of Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.Helen Payne, 'Aristocratic Women, Power, Patronage and Family Networks at the Jacobean Court, 1603–1625', James Daybell, Women and Politics in Early Modern England, 1450–1700 (Ashgate, 2004), pp. 164-81.
Courtier and Governess Jean or Jane Drummond was the daughter of Patrick Drummond, 3rd Lord Drummond and his first wife, Elizabeth Lindsay. Historians use either first name, recent writers prefer "Jane".Mary Verschuur, A Noble and Potent Lady: Katherine Campbell, Countess of Crawford (Dundee: Abertay Historical Society, 2006), pp. 73, 83–85: William Drummond, The Genealogy of the most noble and ancient House of Drummond (Glasgow, 1879), p. 191.
Drummond was a gentlewoman in the household of Anne of Denmark, described as her "familiar servitrix", and had care over the infant Prince Charles at Dunfermline Palace in 1602.Mark Turnbull, Charles I's Private Life (Pen and Sword, 2023), p. 3. The Prince, known as "Duke Charles", was slow to learn to walk and an oak stool with wheels to help train him was delivered to Jean Drummond, described in the Scots language as a "tymber stule with rynand quheillis to gang in".Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580-1625 (London, 1872), p. 467: James Maidment, Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles, the Princess Elizabeth (Edinburgh, 1835), pp. lxxxi, lxxxviii National Records of Scotland E21/76 p. 204.
In 1603, on the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England (as James I), Anne of Denmark went to Stirling Castle to take custody of her son, Prince Henry, in order to take him to London. Drummond was with Anne of Denmark at Stirling Castle on 10 May 1603 when she quarrelled with the Master of Mar and Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar over the custody of Prince Henry and had a miscarriage.Nadine Akkerman, Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Hearts (Oxford, 2021), pp. 26-7, 417 fn.54: William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 211
England Drummond bought linen for the Queen's costume and lace for her ruffs in England.Fanny Bury Palliser, History of Lace (London, 1865), p. 295: Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the reign of James I, 1603-1610, p. 42: TNA SP14/3 f.176. The court travelled to Winchester in September 1603 to avoid the plague in London, and the queen ordered fabrics for new clothes for Drummond and other women who had made the journey from Scotland, including Anne Livingstone, Margaret Stewart, and Margaret Hartsyde.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), pp. 123, 146 fn. 21. Drummond took delivery of materials provided by the silkwoman, Hester le Telier.Sarah A. Bendall, The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens: Gender and Work in the Royal Wardrobe and the Fashion Marketplace (Bloomsbury, 2026), p. 74. In the years before her marriage, Anna of Denmark also gave Drummond gifts of her old clothes.Jemma Field, 'The Wardrobe Goods of Anna of Denmark', Costume, vol. 51 no. 1 (March, 2017), p. 21, & supplement pp. 30, 37, 43.
In November 1603 the Spanish ambassador, the Count of Villamediana, invited the Duke of Lennox and the Earl of Mar to dinner. According to Arbella Stuart, he asked them "to bring the Scottish ladies for he was desirous to see some natural beauties." These included "my Cousin Drummond" and Anna Hay with Elizabeth Carey, and they were given presents of gold chains and Spanish leather gloves.Sara Jayne Steen, Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart (Oxford, 1994), p. 192.
Jane Drummond and Anna Hay, later Countess of Winton, as important members of the queen's household were allocated two footmen to attend them, Andrew Robinson and George Baron.Calendar State Papers Domestic, 1603-1610, p. 74: State Papers, Addenda, SP15/36 f.194. Robinson was later replaced by Andrew Drummond, probably a relation of Jean.HMC 6th Report: Graham (London, 1877), p. 325.
The Privy Council suggested economies in the royal households by reducing the amount of food allowed in October 1605. Food allowances were assigned to individual members of the household in "messes" and "dishes". Jean Drummond's allowance was a "diet of 7 dishes" and this might be reduced to a "chamber mess of two" which the other ladies at court received. Evidently Drummond enjoyed special favour and had a number of servants and followers.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 17 (London, 1938), p. 463.
Ottaviano Lotti, a diplomat from Florence, wrote to John Florio (a groom of Anne of Denmark's household) for help to buy hunting dogs to present to Anne of Denmark, in the mean time keeping the gift a secret from Jean Drummond.Frances Yates, John Florio: The Life of an Italian in Shakespeare's England (Cambridge, 1934), p. 252: Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, 1603–1610 (London, 1857), p. 328. In 1607, a marriage between Drummond and Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll was discussed. She corresponded with her cousin Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy about the proposals, expressing some reluctance to be the earl's second wife, "I do not esteem the place of a second wife so much, his estate being as it is". The plans were abandoned.Keith Brown, Noble Society In Scotland: Wealth, Family and Culture (Edinburgh, 2004), p. 124.
The Masque of Beauty and the Italian poet Jane Drummond was involved in The Masque of Beauty, performed in January 1608. An Italian poet in London, Antimo Galli wrote verses about the event, mentioning her, and also published a sonnet in her praise, in the style of Torquato Tasso.John Orrell, 'Antimo Galli's Description of "The Masque of Beauty"', Huntington Library Quarterly, 43:1 (Winter, 1979), pp. 13-23. He calls her "Giovanna".Rime di Antimo Galli all' illvstrissima Signora Elizabetta Talbot-Grey (Melchisedech Bradwood, 1609), p. 23 verse 71 & part 2, p. 23.David M. Bergeron, The Duke of Lennox, 1574-1624: A Jacobean Courtier's Life (Edinburgh, 2022), p. 1.William Drummond, The genealogy of the most noble and ancient House of Drummond (Glasgow, 1879), pp. 254, 300, citing notes made by Robert Mylne now National Library of Scotland Adv. MS.34.6.9. The imagery celebrates Drummond's friendship with the queen and may reflect a motto used by Anne of Denmark, La Mia Grandezza Dal Eccelso, my greatness comes from on high.Sara Ayres, 'A Mirror for the Prince? Anne of Denmark in Hunting Costume with Her Dogs (1617) by Paul van Somer', Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, 12:2, 2020 Translated by Jamie Reid-Baxter, the sonnet reads:The prudence and the courage which reignIn you, Jean, are such, that observers are leftBoth astonished, reverent and enamoured:Since you are a woman whose soul is worthyOnly of heaven, and such that it does not disdain,O great Lady, to open up the great secrets of the heart:And hence, now that its splendour has madeClear your lovely thoughts, you teach us to rely on God.Neither Artemisia, nor Zenobia, or any otherMore celebrated Lady, present or past,Has ever possessed so many graces.O Friend of heroic virtue and of glory,Having set all worldly pleasures at naught,You make heaven enamoured of your lovely soul.William Drummond, The genealogy of the most noble and ancient House of Drummond (Glasgow, 1879), p. 300 translated here by Jamie Reid-Baxter, from Rime di Antimo Galli all' illvstrissima Signora Elizabetta Talbot-Grey (Melchisedech Bradwood, 1609), part 2, p. 23.
Gatekeeping the Queen's favour
Drummond held a position of responsibility in the queen's household, and wrote and signed financial documents, including on 24 July 1609 a warrant to Thomas Knyvet to pay £500 to the queen's jeweller George Heriot,Archibald Constable, Memoirs of George Heriot (Edinburgh, 1822), pp. 227-8 and in 1612 a warrant for lifetime payments to the queen's four French musicians, the lutenists; Louis Richart, Camille Prevost, Claude Olivier, and Peter de la Mere.HMC 2nd Report: Bromley-Davenport (London, 1874), p. 79.
As a close companion of the queen, Jane Drummond was able to intercede with her for the benefit of others. Arbella Stuart wrote to her with thanks for the queen's favour and the hearing of her suit, which Drummond had presented to the queen in a good light. Arbella hoped that Jane would move the queen to ensure the king would "weigh my cause aright". Drummond wrote to Arbella that Anna of Denmark had passed her petition to King James. He gave no answer except to say that Arbella "had eaten of the forbidden tree." Arbella Stuart sent Drummond, who was Mistress of the Robes, gloves which she had embroidered herself, to be given to the queen. Anne of Denmark sent Arbella a gift, intended according to Drummond, to witness the continuance of her favour. Drummond signed her letters to Arbella as "Jane Drumond"Sara Jayne Steen, The Letters of Lady Arbella Stuart (Oxford, 1994), pp. 244–6, 292.
Jane Drummond was the sister-in-law of Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, who was Lord Chancellor of Scotland and administrator of Anne's Scottish dowry lands. She was therefore a conduit of influence between Anne of Denmark and Scottish politics. In August 1608, Seton had to defend himself from rumours that he corresponded with Anne of Denmark without the King's knowledge.Maurice Lee, Government by pen: Scotland under James VI and I (University of Illinois, 1980), pp. 40, 92.
Jane Drummond wrote to the King's Advocate in Scotland Thomas Hamilton in May 1608, mentioning that she had told the queen that King James had compensated him for his silver mine at Hilderston. She congratulated him on this windfall payment and on the birth of a daughter. She had discussed whether Anne of Denmark would be a godparent, and Anne had said not. Hamilton's daughter was christened Anna, after the queen.William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1889), pp. 99, 188: Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 119. Drummond wrote;"I acquentit hir Maiesti with your gud luk; for the king no shuner gaive you mony for your mynd, bot God send you a chyld to bestow it on. Hir Maiesti was wel contentit that you gaive your dochter that neme, bot says sho wil not allow hir for hir goddochtir becaus you did not aduertis hir, that sho micht have don to you as sho had don to uthers"(modernised) I acquainted her Majesty with your good luck; for the king no sooner gave you money for your mine, but God send you a child to bestow it on. Her Majesty was well contented that you gave your daughter that name, but says she will not allow her for her god daughter because you did not advertise her, that she might have done to you as she had done to others.William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), p. 119
She also wrote to Hamilton about the queen's business and the case of the queen's servant Margaret Hartsyde who was on trial in Edinburgh for stealing the queen's jewels. Anne of Denmark wished that Hartsyde would be found guilty and treated severely.William Fraser, Memorials of the Earls of Haddington, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1889), pp. 118–9
Interceding for Lord Balmerino