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As the son of Mary Queen of Scots, born into her 'bloody nest', James had the most precarious of childhoods. Even before his birth, his life was threatened: it was rumoured that his father, Henry, had tried to make the pregnant Mary miscarry by forcing her to witness the assassination of her supposed lover, David Riccio. By the time James was one year old, Henry was murdered, possibly with the connivance of Mary; Mary was in exile in England; and James was King of Scotland. By the age of five, he had experienced three different regents as the ancient dynasties of Scotland battled for power and made him a virtual prisoner in Stirling Castle. In fact, James did not set foot outside the confine...
Adopting a thematic approach, this addition to the Profiles in Power series aims to provides an objective assessment of James VI and I, a figure who has traditionally been viewed crticically as both as a man and a monarch.
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death in 1625. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, positioning him to eventually accede to all three thrones. James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother was ...
Concentrating on the man as well as the king, this is a portrait of James, only son of Mary Queen of Scots and her consort, Lord Darnley. James passed the first 12 years of his dramatic life at Stirling Castle, where he was crowned King of Scotland when scarcely 13 months old, his mother having been forced to abdicate. He became a brilliant Latin scholar, but his lonely boyhood and his friendship with a succession of attractive favourites were to influence his later life.