Unhappy April (England, France, Spain, and Denmark)
April 1570
England
Once it was confirmed that the rumors were true and that James VI of Scotland was dead, the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland went into an official period of mourning for the death of one of the Queen's closest remaining blood relatives.
Elizabeth's thoughts on the developing situation in Scotland were very complex, her personal vanity and belief in God's divine support for monarchy were still appalled at the overthrow of her cousin, Mary of Scots, even if it was becoming obvious that Mary was a serious threat to Elizabeth's reign and life. However she could at least tolerate that James was the King of Scotland, he was Mary's son and a good candidate to be her own heir.
His death made things more complicated in regard to the English succession.
Not to mention that the lad's grandfather had seized the Scottish throne, and whispers of poison, witchcraft, and other unnatural things were finding their way through England already.
She was also miffed that 'King' Matthew of Scotland (or was it Scots? the usage was still inconsistent) had sent letters directly to wife, Margaret Douglas, with requests that she start looking for a foreign marriage alliance for their son, 'Prince' Charles of Scotland/Scots.
The lad, at the moment Elizabeth was calling him Charles Lennox, was HER blood-relative due to his mother ALSO being a daughter of Margaret Tudor via her second marriage to Archibald Douglas. If anyone was going to find a bride for the lad in the marriage market of Europe it would be HER, the Queen of England. Especially if Matthew and his wife ever expected their son to have even a slim chance at being named her official successor.
She had already sent word to 'Queen' Margaret Douglas and her son, requesting their attendance at court in London so that she might provide them suitable accommodations to their rank and station.
Meanwhile at Chatsworth House, one of the many residences of Elizabeth Talbot, Countess of Shrewbury, who was more commonly called 'Bess of Hardwick', her official guest and friend, Mary of Scots took the news of the death of her son about as well as could be expected.
Despite having been separated from the boy since he was a baby, James was her son, her only son.
Mary of Scots locked herself in her bedchamber for three days before emerging with a request for some food and an all black wardrobe, the later she would wear for the rest of her life.
After this, the former Scottish Queen began to throw herself into her professed Catholic faith and into needlework, the second of which was something that Bess had introduced her too during her 'residency' in England.
Mary said to Bess a week after the official announcement of her son's death, "I fear that I am the most unhappy woman in all of Christendom."
France
Charles IX of France took note of the death of James VI of Scotland, if for no other reason than the damn Duke of Guise was making a lot of noise about finally intervening against the 'Scottish heretics' in order to restore his blood relative, Queen Mary of Scots to her rightful throne. Especially now that said heretics had managed to lead, 'poor, sweet innocent' 'Prince James' into heresy and an early death; before the age of reason of course, which was why the members of the House of Guise were in mourning black and having Masses sung for the repose of 'Prince James the Innocent's soul in heaven.
Charles noted that even Henri de Guise had conceded that France needed to subdue it's own rebelling heretics first. A tall order at the moment since, despite having the advantage in sheer numbers, the Kingdom's debts were spiraling out of control due to the Third War of Religion, and the Huguenots had sacked Toulouse and were marching through the Rhone valley, clearly heading for La Charité-sur-Loire.
Not that Charles was happy with the Duke of Guise at the moment, the bastard had been caught having an affair with Princess Margaret, Charles's own sister no less. Well, she had been thrashed for it personally by him and their mother, Catherine de Medici, and the Duke of Guise had been exiled from court in disgrace. However even in exile he was proving to be an annoyance.
It was becoming obvious that France was going to have to come to an accord with the Huguenots before the religious conflict brought the Kingdom into utter ruin. Even though it was tried before and failed miserably.
Charles also wondered how his mother's attempts to find him a wife were going and just sighed, as much as he resented his mother for her domineering nature, he'd be quite lost without her.
Spain
Philip II of Spain took in the information of the death of James VI with his usual outward stoicism, while internally contemplating what he could do about the situation. The conclusion disgusted him since it was obvious that there was very little that Spain could do directly, for the moment.
He had just finished suppressing the Dutch Rebellion against his right to rule in 'Habsburg Burgundy', but he needed to keep the Duke of Alba there with troops to ensure that the rebellion stayed suppressed. After all the most capable and notorious of the ringleaders of the rebellion, William the Silent, was still at large, and large portions of that land were still adherents of the Protestant heresy.
Not exactly a trustworthy piece of territory, but it was obvious that the Lord wanted him, Philip II of Spain to purify the land of it's heresy and return it to the bosom of the Holy Mother Church.
Then there was the fact that most of the Spanish fleet would be tied up into yet another war with the Ottoman Empire, but at the moment were struggling against the Barbary Pirates, and piracy in the New World in general. Between the Dutch and English pirates and privateers, the gold that Spain desperately needed to fund the various projects of the Empire was irregular in it's arrival at best.
At the moment, Philip really only had enough material available to keep everything he had on his plate going, and that was it.
Then there was the matter of negotiations for his latest marriage, this time to Anna of Austria. With the death of Don Carlos and only two living daughters, he truly did need a male heir to ensure that the Spanish Empire had as smooth a succession as possible. True, it was legal for women to inherit his various titles, it was just a lot more unstable when they did so.
No, as much as he loved them, he needed a son to inherit Spain, and the various other titles that were part of his half of the Empire bequeathed to him by his father, Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
Denmark
Frederick II of Denmark (and Norway) took note of the death of James VI for reasons that are rather curious... Once he sobered up enough to think rationally of course.
Due to a twist of fate (or more likely stupidity), James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell and the 'husband' of Mary, Queen of Scots had fled to Denmark a few years prior in the desperate hope that he, Frederick would help him raise an army to forcibly restore Mary to the Scottish.
Unfortunately for Bothwell he had first made a stop in Norway where he ran into the woman he had already been married too, Anna Throndsen. Considering that she was part of a powerful family this resulted in Bothwell being arrested, ultimately having to promise to pay her a lot of money and sacrificed one of the ships he had taken from Scotland in exchange for his freedom.
By this time word of the murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley had reached Denmark, along with demands from Elizabeth I to extradite him as part of an investigation into this and many more of Bothwell's actions.
At first Frederick had thought to use Bothwell as a pawn in some sort of scheme, it was all nebulous, but it came to nothing when it became obvious that Mary of Scots would stay an English prisoner for a very long time. Currently Bothwell was in a dank, shit filled dungeon chained to a pillar.
But with James VI dead and the Scottish throne in dispute between this Matthew fellow and Mary of Scots... Well maybe improving Bothwell's conditions a bit would keep him alive longer, after all with him alive the former Queen of Scotland wouldn't be in a position to contract a new marriage, at least one that couldn't be disputed and leave any future hypothetical children with questionable legitimacy.
It was a cheap way to further the Protestant cause a bit, and would make him look rather good. He could use the good news considering that the latest war with Sweden had turned into a stalemate. Neither side had the resources to continue fighting, but Frederick was still loathed to just end it with no gains whatsoever.
As he finished issuing orders to have Bothwell sent to more comfortable accommodations, Frederick reached for his wine cup, some part of him already knew that he would have to start talks with 'John III of Sweden', he just didn't want to do it right now.