From early in the 1590s, Heriot had been selling items to Anne of Denmark, the Queen Consort, and on 17 July 1597, he was officially appointed the goldsmith to the Queen. The queen had previously employed a German jeweller Jacob Kroger. The role of a goldsmith in the early modern period extended beyond simply the making and trading of jewellery and precious metals; in effect, he had now become her banker. Over the following years, he would lend her significant amounts of money, often secured on jewellery he himself had sold her. Anne's love of jewellery was "legendary", and by the late 1590s both she and the king were taking out significant loans to support their spending. This ensured Heriot's position would remain lucrative; it had been estimated that between 1593 and 1603 he may have done as much as £50,000 of business with the Queen.