He needed a wife

Many people in Scotland were prepared to ignore James' especially...close friendship with Esmé Stewart. Many praised him for his exceptional chastity because he didn't exhibit much interest in women. James persisted in surrounding himself with the nearly exclusively male company even after Stewart departed Scotland. However, a suitable marriage was required to solidify his throne, and the 14-year-old Anne of Denmark, the younger daughter of Protestant Frederick II, was selected.

In August 1589, following a proxy wedding in Copenhagen, Anne set a ship for Scotland but was diverted by storms to the Norwegian coast. In what historian David Harris Willson referred to as "the one romantic moment of his life," James personally set sail from Leith to rescue Anne after learning that the passage had been abandoned with a 300-person retinue. On November 23, the pair had a legal wedding at the Bishop's Palace in Oslo. They visited Elsinore and Copenhagen, stayed there, and saw Tycho Brahe before departing for Scotland on May 1st, 1590. In the early years of their marriage, James seemed to have always been patient and loving toward Anne, who had initially captured his attention. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, who passed away from typhoid disease in 1612 at the age of 18, Elizabeth, who subsequently became queen of Bohemia, and Charles, his heir, were the three children the royal marriage had.