Tom Durie, or Duri, or Dury, or Derry, Scottish fool or entertainer to Anne of Denmark. Tom Durie appears on record at the Scottish court in May 1603, when he was bought clothes to accompany Anne of Denmark on her journey to England after the Union of the Crowns. These included "green cloth to be ane coit to Thomas Durie hir Majesteis fule." The queen had his portrait painted in 1614 by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, and again by Paul van Somer, recorded in an inventory as the picture of "Tome Derey at Length". Gheeraerts's painting is displayed at the National Gallery of Scotland. At Denmark House in London his portrait was displayed in an antechamber or passage between the queen's withdrawing room and the gallery, and was recorded in an inventory as the picture of "Thomas Derry" in 1619. Anne of Denmark also displayed his portrait at Oatlands. In the 1630s the Gheeraerts painting was in the Queen's Gallery at Greenwich, with portraits of Anne's Danish relatives. Another fool at court, Archibald Armstrong wore a crimson velvet coat with gold lace at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate in 1613. The costume may have been like that in the portrait of Tom Durie. In June 1619 a horse described as a "grey nag" was bought for Tom Durie, costing £12. A list of the horses of royal servants made in 1618 includes horses for Archie, Thom. Derry, and John Mawre, his keeper. King James used to callRobert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury "my little beagle" or "young Tom Durie". Salisbury once wrote a letter of apology to Adam Newton for a breach of manners, saying, "had I done so because I knew it not to be my duty, then am I worse than Tom Dyrry", suggesting that Durie did not adhere to court etiquette. After the queen's death, one of her long-serving Danish courtiers, William Belou, complained that he had been poorly rewarded for his service and paid less than Tom Durie, who was "a natural fool", or Archie Armstrong, "a counterfeit". as the King's cup-bearer" at Scone Palace Tom was still alive in 1620 when an account mentions a payment of 9s-6d weekly for his food and lodging. Some receipts for his and Archy Armstrong's costumes are kept with the papers of Lionel Cranfield at Kent History and Library Centre.
