Published 23rd Feb 2025, 06:00 BST

James VI faced many attempts on his life, the first while he was still in the womb of his mother - Mary, Queen of Scots.

On the night she escaped a deadly knife attack on her secretary at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in 1566, the unborn king’s father, Lord Darnley, was the man who reputedly carried the dagger into the household.

James I and VI, a man born into trauma who peacefully, relatively speaking, expanded the Stuart dynasty across the land. | CC

Darnley was later killed in an explosion in Edinburgh, with his mother’s second husband, Lord Bothwell, the suspect-in-chief. Five months later, James was crowned King of Scotland. He was just one year old.

James VI later remarked he was “baptised in blood”, while others, throughout his life, noted he had been “nurtured in fear”.

Now, a new book, Queen James, The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King, by Gareth Russell, seeks to unravel the monarch - the first to rule Scotland, England and Ireland following the Union of the Crowns in 1604 - who found love, sex and comfort with a string of male ‘favourites’ and a release in dirty jokes and coarse language.

In quieter moments, James VI liked to ride horses and walk his pet armadillo in the park.

Mr Russell said: “James made a comment later in life that ‘people said I had been at risk since I was in the cradle, but it was actually it was before that’. James, out of every person I have written about, had a great excuse for his life to end in failure because of the trauma of how it began, but that wasn’t the case.

“When you look at his life as King of Scots, he was such a talented politician. There are mistakes, but he understood the Scottish nobility and had a great ability to survive plots and opposition, which many of his predecessors, including his mother, had not. James was a talented survivor.”

James VI grew up with no memory of his mother, whom he last saw aged ten months before she fled to England, with the deepest political and religious forces surrounding him instead.

Raised in the cocoon of Stirling Castle, his circle was populated by figures involved in the plot to overthrow Mary, including George Buchanan, his Latin and History tutor.

Stirling Castle is considered a 'key site' by Historic Environment Scotland given income and visitor numbers but campaigners have raised concerns about the future of smaller sites across the country. | Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

Buchanan “frequently cited Mary, in her son’s classroom, as the exemplar of everything that could go wrong in womanhood and monarchy”, Mr Russell wrote.

James VI, who married Anna, Queen of Denmark in 1590 and fathered several children, faced his own caricatures. While he was noticed for his intelligence and heart by one French diplomat, his English detractors labelled him bow-legged, “morally and literally dirty” and lecherous to men.

Mr Russell said: “I hope I did counter these stereotypes in no small part because that comes both from sneering attacks on his private life, but also a lot of it is born from a very potent strain of anti Scottish xenophobia at the English court.”

Eyewitness accounts from those who met James painted a picture of a man who was physically healthy and strong with a sense of humour and a remarkable intelligence, Mr Russell said.

The author added: “He was intensely loyal and, unlike others of the time, did not abandon his friends that became politically inconvenient. To rule over the three kingdoms and to die in power and in his bed really was a remarkable achievement.”

Perhaps James VI’s most famous lover was George Villiers, who the king made Duke of Buckingham and is ofted described as “the most gorgeous man in the world”. They were together for ten years with many of the letters between them were burned. The ones that do survive were a “thrill” to read, Mr Russell said.

Queen James, The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King, by Gareth Russell is published by Harper Collins on February 27.

The life and loves of Scotland's 'gay' king born to Mary, Queen of Scots

Comments