Dunfermline Palace

It is connected to the former monastic residential quarters of the abbey via a gatehouse above a pend (or yett), one of Dunfermline's medieval gates.

[2] The existing remains largely reflect the form in which the building was remodelled by James IV around 1500 from the monastic Guest House.

[9] She gave birth to three of their children in the palace; Elizabeth (1596),[10] She would sometimes travel between Edinburgh and Dunfermline by boat, taking meals at South Queensferry.

[13] The palace staff included the keeper John Gibb, the chamberlains of the estates David Seton of Parbroath, William Schaw, and Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie, the gardener John Lowrie, the plumber James Coupar, who fixed the lead roofs, and Thomas Walwood, foreman of the coal pits.

Anne of Denmark was attended by her German physician, Martin Schöner, and Margaret Douchall, the wife of Jerome Bowie.

[22] It is said that a local gentlewoman, Margaret MacBeth, widow of Henry Durie of Craigluscar, provided the queen with herbal remedies and attended the royal births.

[23] At the time of Charles' birth in November 1600, a new green velvet and taffeta bed was built for Anne in a room in the palace.

[25] There was a steep stairwell outside Anne of Denmark's bed chamber, and in March 1602 the English courtier Roger Aston fell down it and was unconscious for three hours.

[26] At this time there was a plague scare in Edinburgh, and the Privy Council was anxious that the contagion should not reach the "ordinary place of residence of the Queen, his highness' dearest spouse, and of their majesties' bairns".

Ferry crossings to and from Dunfermline were suspended, except for royal councillors and household servants with a clean bill of health.

[30] Jean Drummond, later Countess of Roxburghe, looked after him and an older woman, Marion Hepburn, was in charge of rocking his cradle.

[31][32] The Prince was slow to learn to walk and was provided with an oak stool with wheels to train him, described in the Scots language as a "tymber stule with rynand quheillis to gang in".

[33] An English courtier, Robert Carey, came to Dunfermline and stayed with Alexander Seton, and wrote that Prince Charles was "a very weak child".

[35] Alexander Seton and his wife Grizel Leslie brought Prince Charles to England in September 1604, and he was lodged at Oatlands Palace.

[36] Some of the Prince's old servants from Dumfermline went to England and were given pensions, including Marion Hepburn, the seamstress Joan Drummond, the laundress Agnes Fortune, the chamber door keeper George Kirke, and the cook John Lyle.