James VI. married Anne, second daughter of Frederick II. of Denmark, in 1589, and Stirling Castle was chosen to be the birthplace of their eldest son, who was born in February, 1594. For the Prince’s baptism great preparations were made, including the hasty reconstruction of the Chapel, for James was always anxious to impress his visitors with the dignity of the Scottish Court. The foreign representatives arrived at Stirling before the end of August, and on the 30th of that month the christening service was held.[59] The Prince was carried to the Chapel by Elizabeth’s representative, the Earl of Sussex, who walked under a canopy supported by the Lairds of Cessford, Buccleuch, Dudhope and Traquair; and in the procession Lord Hume carried the ducal crown, Lord Seton bore the basin and Lord Livingstone the towel. The chief officiating clergyman was David Cunningham, Bishop of Aberdeen, who at the King’s command named the royal infant Frederick Henry, and thereafter addressed the congregation in Latin. At the conclusion of the service the company retired to the Prince’s chamber, where James created his child a knight and bestowed on him the usual titles belonging to the eldest son of the King. After a number of less important knights had been made, supper was served in the great hall of the castle, at which, for the entertainment of the guests, a decorated chariot and ship were drawn in, containing viands for the later courses of the banquet.[60] No ill-timed jest spoilt the pleasure of the party, as on the occasion of the festivities in celebration of James’s baptism; but this time, owing to the religious change in Scotland, no French representatives were present at Stirling. A few months before he departed from Scotland to take possession of the English crown, James looked down from Stirling Castle upon a strange and striking spectacle. On December 21st, 1602, a band of riders, consisting mainly of women, was observed advancing from the west. It was seen that the principal members of the party were bearing bloodstained garments and were displaying them to view with the object of attracting attention. The procession wound its way up the castle hill, and at the King’s command was admitted within the gates. Alexander Colquhoun of Luss was the leader of the company, and from him the King learned that a party of Macgregors had raided the lands of Glenfinlas in the Lennox, had plundered the farms of the Colquhoun tenants, and had killed and wounded a number of men, and that these women bearing the bloody shirts were the relatives of the clansmen who had innocently suffered.