Queen James: A New History About the Life and Loves of Britain’s First King, James Stuart

by Gareth Russell

'James comes alive in full flamboyance … Russell expertly weaves the bedchamber gossip into the tapestry of a tumultuous reign' SUNDAY TIMES

'Brings the backbiting and power struggles of the Jacobean court to life with wit and vigour' OBSERVER

‘A warts and all story told with compassion’ PHILIPPA GREGORY

_______________________________

‘Elizabeth was king,

Then James was queen.’ – English author (1603)

James Stuart, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland did not always love wisely, but he never failed to do so boldly.

He fell in love three times – with a Scottish lord, a knight and George Villiers, ‘the handsomest man in the whole world’. He was infatuated three more times – with a Highland earl, a Welsh lord and an English spy.

We know so much about the six wives of Henry VIII, why not the six loves of James I?

This groundbreaking new book puts James – genius, liar, spendthrift, idealist, witch-hunter – and the men he loved at the centre of one of the most dramatic stories in British royal history.

Beginning with the brutal and mysterious murder of his father in 1567, James’s life encompassed kidnapping, witchcraft trials, torture, his mother’s beheading, poison, political radicalism, religious fundamentalism, a queen’s alleged abortion, passionate sex, strong love, stronger hate, espionage, brothels, and a decade-long love affair that ended in assassination.

It is unquestionably one of the most gripping stories in British history, retold in Gareth Russell’s Queen James with scholarship, biographical insight and wit.

________________________________

'Books like this don't come along very often. Told with Gareth Russell's characteristic verve and exquisite eye for detail, it is a story so compelling and surprising that it feels as if it has been hiding in plain sight for 400 years. A stunning achievement and a must for history fans everywhere' TRACY BORMAN

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, LGBT, Queer, Audiobook, Royalty

484 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 27, 2025

About the author

Gareth Russell is an historian and broadcaster. He is the author of "The Six Loves of James I," (a BBC History Book of the Year, a Waterstones Best Book 2025; published as "Queen James" in the UK, Ireland and Australia), "The Palace" (Amazon Editor's Pick for Best New History, A Waterstones Best Book of 2023, BBC History Book of the Year, Town and Country Must-Read, an Aspects of History Best Book of 2023), "Do Let's Have Another Drink" (A Times Book of the Year, 2022), "The Ship of Dreams" (A Daily Telegraph Best History Book, 2019), and "Young and Damned and Fair."

He is the host of the podcast Single Malt History and divides his time between Belfast and London.

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

James I of England is one of those historical characters who is tough to pin down. Does he suffer from following Elizabeth I (I call her Lizzie)? Do we blame him for the problems his successors ran into? How much of James's reputation is colored by his liaisons? Luckily, I can think of no better author to tackle the life of James than Gareth Russell in The Six Loves of James I. (For the record, the UK title is "Queen James." It should have stayed that way for reasons I will explain.) Russell is so adept at making history feel like a conversation at a pub that is both scholarly but damn good fun.

Do you disagree that history can be fun? Here's a quote directly from the book: "Tall, athletic, handsome, and spoiled out of the vaguest possibility of usefulness by his adoring parents..." Can we not agree that this is sheer poetry? And if you are thinking, "Well, I don't like an author just adding their personal opinion," I will point you to the fact that there is a citation at the end of this sentence. My man Russell shows up with receipts.

The author is also not afraid to jump into James's love affairs with both feet. I will give a slight criticism here for the subtitle change I mentioned. The American subtitle makes it sound like this book is purely focused on the relationships. However, this is truly a biography of James more than anything else. That said, Russell takes the time to explain that we can never be 100% sure what happens behind closed doors, but circumstantial evidence can still tell us a lot. If you came for the bedroom drama, you won't be disappointed. If you came to learn about James the person, you will also be happy.

As with every great biography, and this one is just that, I felt a lot of things about the subject. I certainly wouldn't call James a great king, but that is not Russell's intent. Instead, I understand James much better than I ever did. Russell nailed that, and that is why I highly recommend reading this one. It is definitely not a crock of imaginary gold. (That reference will make sense when you read it. Trust me.)

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Atria Books.)

[Sarah Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

After exploring the life of court favourite and flamboyant George Villiers in Leicester last week ( I am a heritage lead for an LGBTQ+ charity), this felt very fitting. Both riveting and scholarly. Gareth Russell has done another sensational job with this study of King James I and 400 years of Queer reflection.

I implore you all to read this. Queen James is everything I wanted in a historical exploration of this Scottish figure and his great loves. I somehow left the book feeling a sense of profound connection with this long dead monarch, and I love how Gareth resurrects the forgotten aspects of this intellectual man’s life without placing too much emphasis on James’ amours nor speculating on his sexuality. After all it is important for us to remember that the dead cannot give their account.

Instead Gareth very beautifully reclaims these intimate relationships and personal stories, offering us invaluable insight into a King’s enduring legacy with grace. We really begin to learn who James leaned on and who he entrusted with his heart, no matter how detrimental.

There was a degree of fragility and fracture in the life of King James, from birth to kingship. We cannot begin to imagine the enormity of his position, hampered by the devastating fall of his parents Lord Darnley and Mary Queen Of Scots, both greatly despised by their enemies afield and subsequently dispatched. Whether they made a bed for themselves is entirely questionable but my god you can really feel the anguish that permeated this young fellow’s early life and bled into his adult years. A man crippled with fear but striving to undo the failures of the people before him.

[Nel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The king was fruity af.

[History Today]

The Scottish throne was a blood-soaked inheritance. James I, crowned at just 11, was murdered in a sewer in 1437. His six-year-old son succeeded as James II and was killed by his own malfunctioning cannon in 1460. Next came James III, aged eight, who died in battle in 1488, leaving the 15-year-old James IV to inherit the crown. He married Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s elder sister, only to be killed during the Battle of Flodden in 1513 fighting the English. His 18-month-old son succeeded as James V but succumbed to disease aged 30, leaving a six-day-old baby, Mary, as Queen of Scots. Her life was a tempest of intrigue and tragedy: forced to abdicate in 1567, and executed 20 years later by order of her English cousin, Elizabeth. Mary’s 13-month-old son succeeded as king following her abdication, the sixth James to rule Scotland. Despite the weight of his bloody and scandalous ancestry, a point drilled into him by his abusive tutor George Buchanan, James escaped the brutal fates of his predecessors. He lived to the age of 59 and died not on a battlefield, sewer, or scaffold, but in his own bed, monarch of both Scotland and England: Britain’s first king. His final moments were marked not by violence, but by the heartbroken sobs of his lover, George Villiers – the last in a long line of male favourites.

Gareth Russell’s Queen James masterfully illuminates James and the men he loved. The book emotively explores the king’s relationships, offering a nuanced portrayal of James, the man, in a way that only a biography which does not discriminate against his passion for other men can. Russell’s exploration of James’ personal life distinguishes itself by treating his sexual relationships with sensitivity, challenging the historical tendency to either dismiss, condemn, or ignore his same-sex desire. While some historians have previously claimed that the sexual element to James’ relationships with men is irrelevant, Russell’s biography demonstrates the opposite. The king had passionate bonds with men including Patrick Gray, Alexander (Sandy) Lindsay, Robert Carr, and George Villiers. He argued with these men, kissed them publicly, wept when separated from them, and wrote them passionate letters. These letters, as Russell compellingly argues, only make sense when read as expressions of romantic and erotic love. Villiers’ suggestive longing to have the king’s ‘legs soon in my arms’ and James’ own fear that his desire for Villiers might consume him will resonate with any reader who has experienced love. The king could not bear to be separated from his ‘sweetheart’ and ‘sweet wife’.

Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...

Jack Beesley is a PhD researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University.

[Chrissie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly enjoyable biography. It is also thoroughly researched, and I really felt the author's care for his subject; so much so that I will now actively seek other titles by him.

The evidence for James having male lovers is very strong, but there is so much more to him than that. Gareth Russell paints a portrait of a boy born into huge tragedy, and a harsh childhood. He then brings us a good King and man, despite everything he went through.

I had heard of possible male partners, and was not shocked - by the law of averages, it would be strange if there were no other sexualties in a dynasty lasting as long as it has! This book has so much more than that though.

I knew very little about James except the basics, but I now feel like I actually see him, and I like what I see.

Now one of my favourite biographies.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, NetGalley, for granting me a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a tricky book for me to review. James VI is the British monarch that I have long found the most interesting, for both the number of obstacles he had to overcome and for just how little consensus there is about him among historians. He is not regarded as either an Elizabeth I or Edward II, although few would deny that he is as important as both, given how his reign initiated the union that would one day become the United Kingdom. I read Gareth Russell’s The Palace earlier this year and greatly enjoyed it, although The Six Loves of James I forced me to contend with the realization that, for me, he is the British equivalent of David McCullough: a bright, talented historical writer whose work nevertheless tends to feel like a chore to read. It’s a strange phenomenon and might simply be a “me” problem. Hopefully, I will one day be able to identify what it is about these objectively good histories that I find so draining, but in the meantime, let’s dig into King James.

Alison Weir once described Mary, Queen of Scots as “the most wronged woman in history,” and coming away from this book, it’s hard to disagree. Whatever you think of the patriarchy today, it is nothing compared to what Mary Stuart had to face during her reign, which was marked by an endless streak of bad luck, all compounded by the Scottish aristocracy’s deeply embedded misogyny. All this hung over her only son, James, who was the third Scottish monarch in a row to ascend to the throne while still in the nursery. But unlike his mother and grandfather, James was an orphan in all but name: his father had been murdered in a plot that many of his lords had pinned on James’ mother, and Mary was a captive in England, forever separated from her son. He was also, remarkably, the first Scottish king in nearly three centuries to die of old age in his bed, for James was, above all else, a survivor. He survived multiple kidnappings and assassination attempts, abusive tutors and caretakers, religious division and a hostile Church, the loss of his mother and five of his children, rebellious lords, treacherous lovers, a tumultuous marriage, and the unenviable task of binding two quarrelsome nations together. Doing so involved no small amount of cunning, wit, adaptability, and patience. Taken all together, it is no wonder that James was so inherently distrustful and paranoid, nor that his contemporaries and historians alike have found him so difficult to read.

Russell’s take on the Stuart king is sympathetic (unsurprisingly, given that he wrote an entire biography about him). He contends that James’ intellect was not exaggerated, and insists the image of James as a slobbish, repulsive neanderthal is a caricature based on James’ final, sickly years. His relationship with his family is also portrayed in a more positive light than it is in most accounts. James and his wife, Anna, would often butt heads, but they formed a close bond, and James was devastated by her death (Anna, Russell claims, also remained popular among the commoners, despite her reputation for lavish spending). Far from being the neglectful father of a dutiful heir, whom he then abandoned on his deathbed, James was close with Henry and worried that his son cared more for battle than schoolwork. He was away from Henry’s bedside during his last moments only because Henry’s physician had insisted on it. And the fate of James’ mother was something that anguished him his entire life: their separation, the uncertainty over whether she was complicit in his father’s death, the sense of betrayal he felt when he learned she was trying to wrestle the throne back from him, their religious differences, and ultimately, his inability to prevent her execution. That James was able to see past the brainwashing of his tutors, hellbent on turning him against his sinful mother from a young age, was probably the earliest sign of his intellect and ability to maneuver political minefields. (Russell also presents a more sympathetic portrait of George Villiers, showing him to be thoughtful, affable, and committed rather than the pompous leech he’s often remembered as).

If there is one thing that needs to be said about this book, however, it’s that the title is a misnomer. This is a straightforward biography, not a specialized analysis in the style of, say, Antonia Fraser’s Love and Louis XIV. It wasn’t even really clear who the six loves were, given the number of candidates, until the Appendix, when Russell delineates the six people whom he believes James had a sexual relationship with.* So in this sense, the “loves” of the title refer strictly to sexual partners and not any other kind of relationship (paternal, platonic, etc.) If you’re looking for King James’ life story, then this is a fair and detailed choice. Just don’t go in expecting more romance than politics.

*I’m something of an Anne Murray truther. Given how James never sought out female companionship at any other point in his life beyond his dynastic marriage, I find it more likely the alleged affair with Anne was arranged to ward off whispers about his homosexuality.

[Laura]

DNF @ 50%

I'm getting too angry at the way women are being treated in this to continue on.

[Kate (k8tsreads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gareth Russell is truly the master of detail. He does not leave any stone unturned, and he provides background on all of the characters he introduces. In many ways, this is really nice. It gives you a more full scope of the time and the people that surround the main "character" (in this case, James I). In other ways, it can be a bit overwhelming. I find his books to be a great detailed dive into a subject that interests you, with really good prose. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for a casual history reader - there were places where the number of characters got a bit confusing and the story felt a bit dry.

But overall, I really liked this book! I learned a TON. I think the title is a bit misleading - it doesn't really focus THAT much on James's "favorites." I think I was expecting the story to be more organized around that. It's really just a detailed biography of James I's life, which of course involves a number of lovers. Don't expect as deep of a dive into them as the title might suggest, but there is a fair bit of content focusing on them.

[Waverli Almand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received ARC via Edelweiss. 4.5 Stars.

Really enjoyed this read. A deeply-researched dive into James VI and I's reign spanning the entirety of his lifetime. His romances were included, but more as windows into his life and cultural context as a whole. I was expecting more of an analysis of these six loves based on the title, but I was not disappointed in the biography as a whole. I understand the hook/comparison to Henry VIII, especially since I probably wouldn’t have read this one without it! I primarily read fiction, but the intrigue of potential romantic drama as well as my love of Mary Queen of Scots led me to my favorite history book of the year.

Russell was clear in his delivery and thoughtful about the language used. I learned so much without feeling like I was reading a textbook. I did not realize the extent of the impact that James had on British politics and contemporary society -- while I knew he was responsible for the Union Jack and the KJV Bible, learning the context behind them and other facts was so interesting.

[Michelle Marmelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved Gareth Russell's account of James I & VI. The story telling is immaculate and the amount of research he has done shows in every page. Even the appendix is fascinating. Absolutely recommend.

[Roma · Rating 4 out of 5]

buckingham supremacy 💒🙏🧎‍♀️🕯️

[SnarkyMoggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a proof this book through NetGalley. The following review is made up of my thoughts alone, and hasn't been influenced by the author, the publisher or by NetGalley.

This is one that I finished, and immediately went onto Audible to find the audiobook version of this. It's now bought and downloaded onto my phone because I will be re-reading this once I've cut down my TBR pile a bit further. I've read various books where James VI/James I is mentioned, but this is usually only the biographies of all the kings and queens of the United Kingdom. I don't think any of them gave James VI/James I the depth and attention that he deserves. This is the first one where he's given the appreciation he deserves in my opinion, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and was sad when I finished it. I wished that I could forget everything that I had just read, and get to read it through with fresh eyes all over again.

I never realised how much his earlier years, before he became James I for the United Kingdom, influenced him. Other authors had always mentioned that he'd been badgered by various nobles of the Scottish Court, but not to the extent that Gareth Russell explains. Or, that so many tried to control him to control the throne. It was only his own strength that meant he could stand on his own feet, and be nothing more than a puppet. He was a king that had favourites, and I actually was surprised how none of them became a reason for him to be over-thrown. The favourites listed, and what they did and how they acted, it rings of Edward II, and the two favourites. Yet, the nobles took the route of trying to get their choice for favourite instead to be in the king's good favour and didn't threaten the life of the kind.

There is so much to learn from this book. I have found a new author to follow, and will probably buy anything else he writes.

Once again, please get this book.

4.5 Stars

[Melisende · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reader will be suitably entertained with the "gossipy scandal" of James' love-life, and informed through this user-friendly historical study of both English and Scottish politics under the first King of a united kingdom.

Read full review here @ Melisende's Library

[Saimi Korhonen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"He was deeply flawed – a hypocrite, a genius, a liar, a loyal friend, a pedant, a loving father, a spendthrift, a man who was capable of both great vindictiveness and great kindness. –– Yet, unlike either of his parents or his successor, James died in power and in his bed, with his son at his side and a man he loved in the same room."

In Queen James, Gareth Russell tells the turbulent and dramatic story of the king of Scotland and England, James VI and I, focusing on the world he lived in, the religious upheaval of the time period, his political ideologies, his personality and his relationships with his wife, Queen Anna, and his litany of male favourites and lovers.

James is one of my newest historical obsessions and I have been dying to read this book for ages. In Russell's expert hands, this world and man comes alive in a truly impressive way. Reading this book was not always easy, as I am not super familiar with this time period and its notable figures, which made truly grasping some of the political debates and crises of the time challenging, but it was a wonderful challenge and one I immensely enjoyed. Russell's writing is engaging and I appreciated how carefully he bases all his claims on evidence, interrogates common myths and misconceptions about James and his life, and argues for a more nuanced interpretation of James's love affairs. Despite an abundance of evidence, many have over the years ignored James's queerness or subscribed to often hostile and narrow-minded outlooks on his relationships. James is often remembered as this slobbering old sickly king who fiddled with his codpiece and was utterly ruled by his favourites – Russell tackles this misguided image of the king and presents the reader with a much more complex and nuanced figure.

The James that I got to know through this book was one I didn't aways like but always found interesting. He was clearly a very learned and clever man – he spoke many languages, loved reading, wrote many books, published poetry and enjoyed visiting scientists and scholars (when in Denmark, he met with, for example, Tycho Brahe) – but he also had a wicked and crude sense of humour and a tendency to make ill-timed jokes, drink heavily (especially as he got older and lost his Queen, he became what we would call an alcoholic) and be visibly bored in company, which, though relatable (I too hate large crowds and would rather lock myself in a quiet room, like James was said to have done), was not a great habit for a king. He loved peace and quiet, but adored hunting and loved a good party with his friends. He strived for peace, even when it cost him the goodwill of his people and angered his parliament (his decision to keep England/Scotland from the Thirty Years War to avoid unnecessary costs, both monetary and human, is admirable in hindsight but seen as evidence of his effeminacy and stupidity back then), but he was capable of great anger and violence – he, for example, fuelled a famous witch trial. In many ways I felt for him. He experienced a lot of brutality in his lifetime – his parents were both killed, his grandpa and regent died in front of him, he was kidnapped as a kid and held by his lords for months, his teacher George Buchanan was both verbally and physically severely abusive to him, one of his possible lovers Alexander Ruthven perhaps tried to assassinate him and there was the Gunpowder Plot which nearly cost him and his son's life. He buried many of his children (he seemed to be a true, affectionate father) – it is said when Henry, his heir, died he and his wife Anna both screamed and sobbed, absolutely broke down. But then, there were also aspects of him I found hard to understand, his witch craze during the North Berwick trials being the obvious one. His stern belief in the Divine Right of Kings is something that is, for a 21st century person, also very difficult to understand. I don't know what I would reply if someone asked me if he was a great king or not. He was successful in many ways – he kept Scotland and England standing despite all the political and religious upheaval of the time and brokered peace treaties – but, well, he was also a big spender, angered many of his own people, often behaved abysmally poorly and childishly and was way too lenient on his favourites when they did stupid things (Huntly, his Scottish lord, was a real troublemaker, even secretly negotiated with the Spanish behind James and Elizabeth I's backs but still James forgave him). I'd say he got the job done in a situation many people would've failed in.

This book shone a light on six of James's notable relationships. Prior to reading this book, I pretty much only knew George Villiers and Robert Carr, two of his most infamous lovers. Patrick Gray, who seemed to be his first love, climbed high in court and even worked as an English spy for Elizabeth, aiding her agendas by helping get rid of people she didn't like. Patrick was one of James's envoys to England who he hoped would stop his mother's execution (Patrick failed, and their relationship seemed to have fizzled out around then). "Hot and hardy" Huntly was quite the persona – a powerful clan leader whose influence over the king worried people, a true chaos beast and an absolute nuisance and constantly getting into trouble, which James often got him out of. Once Huntly burned a guy's house down and killed the man but still managed to get James to pardon him. Alexander Lindsay, or Sandy, was one of my favourites to read about, as he seemed to have been genuinely loyal and loving, not someone looking to use the king to their advantage. People, even those who tended to view the king's relationships with suspicion, seemed to like him, and no one saw him as a threat. When James married Anna and his relationship with Sandy ended (James seemed to want to make his marriage work - there is no evidence of favourites for many years after he married), Sandy was not angry or bitter. The possible Alexander Ruthven affair was quite the mess – the Crock of Gold story is both hilarious as well as confusing, who knows what happened there. I liked how Russell gave us five different theories instead of trying to declare one concrete truth. James Hay was perhaps the favorite I found least compelling. Philip Herbert was mainly amusing to read about cause he seemed to be one of those guys who is pretty but really stupid and does not mind it. I was, however, quite surprised to learn that he was on the opposing side to Charles during the Civil War. He wasn't forced to take part in sentencing his former "friend's" son to death, though. I didn't foresee the pretty athlete himbo-esque jock becoming a serious politician.

Robert Carr I knew was a controversial figure, but there was lots about him I didn't know. I didn't realize how much his friend (and lover?) Overbury manipulated him and pulled his strings and that he was not on his own as clever as he perhaps should've been to survive at court. I knew his fall had something to do with a scandal, but I didn't remember that he and his wife stood accused of the poisoning of Overbury, who was eventually imprisoned by a very angry James for his disobedience and shenanigans. They were sentenced to an imprisonment in the Tower (though, which I also did not know, on his deathbed James pardoned him). Carr was an interesting figure cause he didn't immediately involve himself in politics, perhaps hoping to not scare or anger people. In the end, he climbed his way to the top, just like George Villiers did. Villiers is a fascinating guy and makes one wonder how much of his loving words and devotion to his king was calculated and how much of was genuine (this is something one must ask with all of these men, but Carr and Villiers especially – out of his love affairs to me the one with Sandy felt most like one without many ulterior motives). I think they did have feelings for the king but that it is also hard to love a man who is king and not have his kingship affect your feelings for him. I found the inclusion of quotes from James's letters to his lovers very informative and moving because he seemed to be a romantic, someone who loved with passion. His letters to Carr near the end of their relationship are full of genuine heartache, and Russell points out, that James and George had some kind of ceremony, because, after a certain point, they begin to refer to each other in letters as "husband" and "wife" and James refers to a possible life without George as widowhood. They refer to their relationship as a marriage. There is something quite charming about a man who loved so openly despite his loves being, well, criminal (in England, at least) at the time.

As James's queerness is at the heart of this book, Russell spends a lot of time discussing the era's understanding of sexuality.A lot has been said about James calling sodomy, in one of his texts, a horrible sin, but Russell reminds us that a) sodomy referred to, most of the time, specifically penetrative anal sex and that some men didn't see themselves as sodomites as long as they did not do that, and b) sodomy was a very wide, unclear term that encompassed many "sins". James could've been talking about rape, bestiality, pedophilia or even inhospitality. Russell goes into both religious and legal definitions of terms like sodomy, the way queer people of the day were treated when their relationships were revealed and how, in James's court, his queerness was something everyone seemed to know. Despite hating people making mean quips about his affairs and poking fun at him, James wasn't all that discreet. He is said to have kissed and embraced his lovers openly, exclaimed publicly how he loves Villiers more than any man in the world and so on. It was interesting how, for many people it seems, James's lovers only became a genuine issue when they became too involved in politics. People didn't want the king's twinks to start dictating foreign policies or meddle in parliamentary affairs. Many even saw the value in having, as the king's favorite, someone on their side. Even Archbishop Abbott, who thought Carr a horrible man, teamed up with Queen Anna to find a replacement for him – they landed on George Villiers. The idea of the Archbishop and the Queen seeking a pretty man to entertain and protect the king (Anna was demanded George keep James safe and keep him from being used) is quite funny.

Speaking of Queen Anna, I absolutely fell in love with her while reading this book. I knew nothing of her before this but she quickly became one of my new favorite historical ladies. She was a Danish princess whom James personally fetched from Denmark after her attempts at sailing to Scotland were thwarted by horrible storms. She became an impressive queen despite the people not always warming up to her. She was clever, proud, charismatic, elegant and cunning, lover of a long grudge, vindictive when angry, a loving mother, a loyal queen and partner to James (she stood in for him in events and meetings when needed), and very pragmatic. She was a patron of arts, a performer herself and she loved bling. Her marriage was a weird one, sure, considering her husband's tendency to prefer male company, but they had many kids and seemed a close, united family. Anna and James seemed, based on their letters, to be close friends and Anna was clearly protective of James. Even though she argued with him in private and wasn't as obedient as wives were expected to always be, she never questioned him in public. When she pretty much recruited George Villiers, she, as I mentioned, demanded he be loyal to James and protect him. One instance which made me really cackle was when Anna, who was mocked by the Kirk to be a "dancing queen", replied to a priest who asked for the honor of delivering a sermon for her that she was "having too much fun dancing". I can only aspire to that level of pettiness and confidence. Also, her pretending to not know Scots to make the people around her speak freely, thinking the Queen couldn't understand them, in order to find out what they truly thought of her was a peak move. I was quite sad to read of her death, with Charles by her side, and of how James sobbed and broke down when he heard of her passing. It is in those descriptions of grief and anguish that you can see just how much James cared about his wife and partner.

This is a very interesting time period in British history. Sometimes reading about everything that went down felt almost like reading a fictional story – once again, I was reminded how history is often even wilder than fiction. I think Russell really captured the power struggles, constant manoeuvring and political games of the royal courts as well as the differences between English and Scottish political landscapes. In Scotland, for example, the lords had way more concrete power than in England. The tense relationship between Scotland and England also became apparent – among other things, some English saw the Scottish as dirty and criminal. The impact of religion on everything at this time also came across well. There's a constant battle between Catholics and Protestants, and eventually, near the end of James's life, Europe is embroiled in the Thirty Years War, a largely religious conflict. Religion dictated everything from marriages to peace treaties to who was chosen to raise royal children. James, for example, was raised protestant after the fall of his mother, Mary, who was a devout Catholic. His reign was, from the beginning, marred by this religious conflict. I mentioned earlier that I sometimes found it difficult to truly grasp the depth of these events and conflicts because this still a rather foreign historical period for me. I feel like this book gave me a good basic understanding of James's reign, the Jacobean era, and aided me in understating the roots of the quarrels and crises (such as the deepening mistrust between king and parliament) that eventually, during his son's reign, escalated into a brutal civil war and cost Charles his head.

I would highly recommend this impressive feat of research to anyone interested in the life of King James, or, in general, this period of British history. While this is a hefty book to pick up if you are solely interested in queer history, I would still suggest you give it a go if you aren't too daunted by the length and topic. This is a very compelling character portrait of James, one that treats him with empathy while also never making a saint out of him. I hope to read a lot more about James (and his awesome wife) in the future, but I think it will be hard for any book to top this as my favorite biography of him.

Here are some interesting facts I learned:

- James's family had been stewards for the previous king (this is how they got their name Stewart / Stuart) until one of them married a princess. The first Stuart monarch succeeded his childless uncle.

- The first time someone tried to kill James he was in utero. His dad, Lord Darnley, was in one the plot to kill Mary's advisor, Riccio, and as this plot unfolded, someone pointed a gun at Mary's belly.

- Both Mary and James, when they wrote to each other, signed themselves as the monarch of Scotland. Later, James tried to stop Mary's execution, even though their relationship, mostly built through letters, wasn't great at that point.

- James's cousin Esmé Stuart (who was 20 years older than him) is often described as having groomed young teen James but Russell points out that is no clear evidence of this and that even Esmé's enemies at court didn't talk about this – surely they would've used this as ammo if it was true. These rumours seem to be just that, rumours.

- As a kid James called his governess the Dowager Countess of Mar "Lady Minny" (Minny = Mummy) and his household governor, Alexander Erskine, "Lord Deddy" (Deddy = Daddy).

- James had some weird pets in his lifetime, including an otter (which he walked on a leash) and an armadillo.

- In James's time, the Venetians associated homosexuality with the Ottomans, while the French thought it was an Italian thing, Germans that it was a Japanese vice and the Scottish that it was French.

- Between 1563 and 1727, around 1500 people were tried for Witchcraft in Scotland. The North Berwick trials, which James fuelled (after this, he didn't actively take part in witch trials and even condemned them), caused around 70 deaths.

- James hoped for a union between Scotland and England. It was during his reign that the idea of the Union Jack flag was created. The nickname of the flag is derived from James's Latin name Jacobus. While he never achieved this dream of his, his great-granddaughter, Queen Anne, oversaw the Acts of Union.

- James's religious conference in 1604 led to the creation of the King James Bible, which both High Anglicans and Puritans worked on.

- The Gunpowder Plot was thwarted when someone sent an anonymous warning to James.

- When Prince Henry was dying, little prince Charles, later Charles I, brought him a horse statue he knew his brother liked. Reading this made me sad – it was such a baby brother thing to do.

- When Pocahontas visited England, she was Queen Anna's guest.

- Mary, George Villiers's mother, was given the title Duchess of Buckingham, which shocked everyone because women did not get titles on their own, only through their husbands. It is clear, from this, that James both liked and respected her.

- James and Anna shared a wicked sense of humour and, in their letters, gossiped about the courtiers they didn't like. In one letter, James told Anna, so that she wouldn't laugh out loud when she hears it in public, that an old man is gonna marry a 20-year-old woman. He asks her to keep it a secret and she replies asking how she is supposed to keep a secret something she has already told everyone she knows.

- It's possible that James had ADHD. It is said he had difficulties sitting still and focusing especially when he was bored, and that he had a tendency to fidget, pace and move around.

- Once the 30 Years War had begun, George Villiers and Prince Charles masqueraded as merchants and made their way into Spain to propose a marriage alliance. It was unsuccessful.

- George I who followed Queen Anne as monarch was James's daughter Elizabeth's grandson. It is in this way that the current royal family is related to James and Anna.

- James was Villiers's daughter's godfather and really liked playing with the kid whom he saw as something of a grandchild. He was also good pals with George's wife.

- When Prince Charles was declared Prince of Wales, after his brother Henry's death, one of the bishops conducting the ceremony messed up and called him Henry. Embarrassing.

[Sarah-Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read I-don't-know-how-many biographies of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, but this is my first bio read of James I and VI. The concept underlying it is interesting: since his romantic/sexual relationships are one of the ways in which he's best know, why not use them to make the "spine" undergirding a story of his life? It also resonates with the whole Henry VIII six wives thing.

The problem here is that not everything James did/experienced was connected to one or more of his loves, so for stretches that spine is missing and then has to be returned to, sometimes awkwardly. This is, however, a minor complaint.

The better documented of his relationships are fascinating and quotations from his correspondence left me wanting more of that material. What Russell did provide was chosen well and effectively explored. As a result, what I'm most hungry for now is books exploring some of those relationships individually and in more depth. And, really, that speaks to the success of Russell's undertaking—he's left me looking for more in a good way.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own.

[Amolhavoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't remember when I last enjoyed a historical biography this much. I came away genuinely feeling that I knew the subject, which is rare. Gareth Russell has a skill for combining forensic scholarship with a breezy style, and is also totally open about when he is speculating, which I appreciated. James I & VI, what a player. And Anna of Denmark, what a legend, I had no idea. Highly recommended, this book is so much fun.

[liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't quite know why, but I found this really interesting! I remember as a child really loving a book about Elizabeth I and a book about Mary Queen of Scots, the way those two powerful women interacted was so interesting and this book brought up a lot of that nostalgia for learning about that period of history.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of James that I've been waiting to read

[Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

James isn't my favourite person or period to learn about. My special interest is the time period of the Plantagenets to Tudors. But that's not to say I don't have any interest, I don't mind the start of the Stuart period, but I have no interest in the break and the Stewart's 2.0. But that's not in James' lifetime. But saying all this, the reason I picked this up was because I last year I read a book about The Duke Of Buckingham which surprised me on how much I enjoyed it, so I wanted to see the same person be examined through James' eyes. And come on, that title is so eye catching! It's so snappy and controversial. Plus I've read books from this author before and I have enjoyed them. Decent writing and very well researched.

I liked this and I found it interesting. I learned a lot. How much trauma in his earlier life really effected his character for the rest of his life. No wonder he thought everyone wanted to murder him and he thought witches were real. And I can't believe a teacher was allowed to be so casually cruel to an anointed monarch. It was so excessive.

It was really well researched. I reccomend it if you're interested in the subject. It only gets a lower rating due to the fact that this period isn't my favourite.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It is a bit of a tome, but as the emphasis is on James's personal life rather than his political one, it does have a lot of pace to it, especially given the dramatic events of his mother's exile and death along with all that happened during his childhood. Yes, the title is tongue in cheek, but Gareth Russell takes his subject seriously, and it is a great step in reclaiming another portion of queer history.

[Louise Jayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook. Very interesting. I particularly liked the appendix discussing the linguistics surrounding homosexuality in the Early Modern Period. What a stabby time to be alive! James I was a saucy lad tbh.

[Hannah Oakman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find I can sometimes find myself struggling with history texts but never with this one! I've found the flow of the text and the information within so fascinating I can't bare to put it down!

[Jackie Sunday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extensively researched and packed with adventures, this is a book that unfolds effortlessly with the life of James IV King of Scotland and later James I King of England.

It starts with a family tree along with two maps which is always helpful. Yet, as I glanced through the numerous names, I was nervous of keeping track of who’s who. However, I found it easy to read, consumed by the stories from this prominent leader who lived from 1566 to 1625.

The author produced astonishing details about his life. James seemed to follow his regal role except he had multiple relationships with both sexes. He was married to Queen Anna and an affair with a mistress, Anne, that was quietly acceptable. At the same time, he had intense relationships with men (more than six) and as a king, it was not an issue.

James and Anna had seven children. During this period, most never made it past infancy. There were always the dangers of kidnapping. If they made it to their late teens, the rulers would use them as a political tool for marriages in hopes that there would be some sort of love involved.

As most know, there were two sides of religious beliefs: Catholics and Protestants. I’m sure James wished for everyone to get along as he seemed to be the peace maker of his time. When there was a bloody European war, he vowed to keep out and let other countries spend their funds on combat.

James was also a writer of books and poetry. He enjoyed hunting and was curious about witchcraft. He had a few books he secretly read out of curiosity. Sadly, it was a time in history when women were targeted as witches and harshly burned to death.

This account helps us learn about the rulers and living conditions from over 400 years ago. Part of the book was highly disturbing about people burned at the stake, beheaded or torn apart with their limbs tied to horses rapidly headed in four different directions. Yet, some things are still the same: rulers with extravagant celebrations while the poor are asked to pay more taxes.

The end includes more notes and a list of influential people. I feel like I know James pretty well. It was the continuous feed of stories that made a difference with the documentation. It created an unforgettable reading experience of a leader and man worth remembering.

My thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy of this advanced book wih an expected release date of December 2, 2025. The views presented are my own.

[ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gareth Russell where have you been all my life babey!! This book is soooo good and deeply satisfied the part of me that, while learning about James VI and I in year 12, said aloud, 'this seems gay'. Jokes aside, I am so impressed and compelled by how this is written: without skipping over facts it is easy to read and get lost in. I love that we have books like this, now.

[TJ West · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review first appeared on my Substack newsletter, Omnivorous.

I’ve long found King James I of England (VI of Scotland) to be a fascinating figure. This was a man, after all, who hated witches and oversaw the magisterial translation of the Bible that is still the go-to version for many Protestants, and he was also the man who was (in)famous for his many male favorites, some of whom became enormously powerful in their own right. In other words, James was a bundle of contradictions in both his private and his political life, and this is precisely what makes him such a compelling figure for biographers, both in his own time and in our own.

His love life is the center of The Six Loves of James I, the new book from historian Gareth Russell. In lively, engaging prose and drawing Russell draws attention to the ways that James’ various loves shaped his political life, both for the good and for the bad. What’s more, the roots for James’ life and loves lay in his childhood and youth in Scotland, long before he would ascend the English throne as James I. As Russell reminds us in some detail, James had a very troubled childhood. After his mother Mary was deposed and fled to England–where she would spend the rest of her life in prison before being executed for scheming to steal her cousin Elizabeth’s throne–he was essentially at the whim of the various men who occupied the regency and, to make matters worse, he was also subjected to the stern and terrifying rule of his tutor, George Buchanan.

Fortunately, there were some key men in his life, even when he was young, that came to his rescue. One of the most important of these was his cousin, Esmé Stuart, who swooped in and cast a spell over the young king. He brought a lot of joy to a young monarch who’d been very lonely and traumatized due to the violence of his early reign and the efforts of many to bully him, and he was one of the first in a long line of handsome young men that James would take to his breast, both in Scotland and then in England.

One of the most important of these was Robert Carr, the man who would become the Earl of Somerset. His relationship with the king began, oddly enough, when he broke his leg, an event that led James to care for him. In Russell’s capable hands we get a front-row seat to this extraordinary romance and, while it remains unclear just how far the physical/sexual aspect of their relationship went, there’s no question that James fell passionately and deeply in love with this particular favorite, which just makes Somerset's eventual disgrace–he got caught up in a murder scandal–all the more tragic. Poor James just couldn’t get a break when it came to his lovers, many of whom disappointed him in one way or another.

There’s no question, though, that the real love of James’ life was George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham. This handsome and dashing young man cast an undeniable spell on the King of England, and from the moment the two met their lives and destinies would be forever intertwined. George might have been from humble origins, but he took to the life of a favorite like a duck to water, and he soon became indispensable to James not just as a lover but also as a counselor. His rise, as Russell documents, was truly meteoric, and it wasn’t long before he was the only non-royal duke.

Russell deserves a great deal of credit for looking beyond the propaganda and anti-Buckingham vitriol that dominated the latter part of his career to show the real man beneath. Reading this book one gets the sense that Buckingham really was quite fond of James and, though he wasn’t afraid of making sure that his friends and relatives benefited from his rise,

Yet, for all that the men of James’ life were important to him, Russell is also at pains to demonstrate that his wife, Queen Anna, was also a formidable influence in his life and at his court. What’s more, she was also happy to make use of her husband’s well-known penchant for young men by putting some of them into his path at key moments. She was, in fact, the very person who made sure that James met George in the first place. Before they drifted apart they seem to have been at least somewhat close, especially since James even went out of his way to sail to Norway to procure her when the ships intended to bring her to Scotland were beset by foul weather. Theirs might not have been a passionate or even a particularly happy marriage–they largely lived separate lives once they came to England–but for a time at least there seems to have been genuinely fond of one another.

The Six Loves of James I is a nuanced and thoughtful portrait of the progenitor of the Stuart dynasty and the ancestor of the current King Charles. James was not the fool that many took him to be and, while he had more than his fair share of flaws–as is as true of monarchs as it is of regular folk–he was also a learned man. He loved his favorites deeply, but he also genuinely wanted to see them wedded and living happy lives. James might have been largely dismissive and contemptuous of women, but there were some that he managed to respect, including both his wife and George’s mother, Mary.

I appreciate the way that Russell combines scholarly rigor with a lively voice that invites us right into the sometimes sordid but always interesting world of the Stuart monarchy. Just as importantly, I also appreciated the way that he showed the extent to which James’ private life intersected in fascinating ways with his political one. I also appreciated that he was careful in his use of terminology when it comes to defining James’ sexuality, always a tricky balancing act when one is dealing with figures from the past for whom our own categories of sexual identity don’t necessarily apply.

Even so, The Six Loves of James I demonstrates that, whatever else he was, King James was at the very least a very queer monarch. Unusual and complicated and contradictory, he continues to fascinate even after all of these centuries, a try icon if ever there was one.

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: A groundbreaking and insightful exploration of King James I, enigmatic successor to Queen Elizabeth I, from the “meticulous researcher” (The Wall Street Journal) and author of the “enjoyable and readable” (Philippa Gregory, #1 New York Times bestselling author) The Palace.

From the assassination of his father to the explosive political and personal intrigues of his reign, this fresh biography reveals as never before the passions that drove King James I.

Gareth Russell’s “rollicking, gossipy” (Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets), and scholarly voice invites us into James’s world, revealing a monarch whose reign was defined by both his public power and personal vulnerabilities. For too long, historians have shied away from or condemned the exploration of his sexuality. Now, Russell offers a candid narrative that not only reveals James’s relationships with five prominent men but also challenges the historical standards applied to the examination of royal intimacies.

This biography stands as a significant contribution to the understanding of royal history, illuminating the personal experiences that shaped James’s political decisions and his philosophical views on masculinity and sexuality.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I'm in two minds about this read. I like the writing; I'm open, if not warmly welcoming, to the subject being included among our queer ancestors; but he was still medieval about religious stuff, and was inimical to "witches" among his subjects. (There were not, and are not, witches in the sense these people used the term. Pace, modern wiccans.) It really, really bothers me that Edward Gorey is co-opted to be One of Us, when he explicitly said he was not. (Go read my review.) So James VI and I? I'm not mad at or about the folks who want to say he was gay.

It's evident to me, after reading this book, that his greatest love was George Villiers. It appears to have been reciprocated, as much as we can know these things about people 400 years dead (as of this year). The extant evidence supports the conclusion that this complicated, traumatized, deeply and passionately emotional man was lucky enough to find some people...his wife Anna of Denmark, the aforementioned George...in his lifetime who met him where he was, who offered him the precious gift of companionship. Inasmuch as a royal can experience such a commoner's thing, more especially then when royal power was less trammeled than today.

Author Russell is scrupulous in making you au fait with his sources. He specifically says, on the occasions he makes a logical leap, that this is what he's doing. Where people in the past used the lens of homophobia to "tar" a man's reputation (viz, Frank Barlow's William II) with the stench of sodomy, much more often than not the "charge" was made absent solid evidence, and for some sort of political or ideological reason. As my best example, in this book Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, frequently accounted as James's first love(r), is shown to have been at most a crush, with no evidence pointing to a more intense relationship.

So I'm happy to accept Author Russell's well-founded and -informed conclusions about the rest of the King's emotional life. As the life of a king, as the lives of us all, is mostly spent outside the bedchamber and away from our intimate partner, the pretext of the book must needs fall away as events demand attention depart Mary and George territory. (Excellent show, Nicholas Galitzine {George Villiers} naked is a most enjoyable view to have.)

The reign of the king was bound to be complex. He succeeded the longest-ruling, to that point, monarch of the country; he was the first ruler to have an explicit, publicly acknowledged right to both British thrones; he was in power at the dawn of the modern world with its marvels and mysteries supplanting the certainties of his own world, the one he was raised in. It was a morass of warring interests, as the world has always been; James was not always the best one to make good, for the time and information he could have, decisions.

An unenviable position as monarch of two countries who had been at war for centuries, and whose mother he never met because she was imprisoned and murdered by his predecessor. Fractious nobles, upstart commoners, churchmen jealous of their vanishing prerogatives (this despite or because of his commissioning if the King James Version of the Bible), kidnappings, assassination attempts...this is the "remember, remember, the Fifth of November" king...it's no wonder he was paranoid and prone to act as if people were out to get him. They all too often were. It still left me wishing he would pull his head out of his medieval ass and get with the modern world borning in his care. It's irrational, unfair, and quite pointless, but it shows how very invested Author Russell got me into King James.

In all, a read I enjoyed more than didn't, that I finished in a very good time, and found more reasonable and more honest about its royal subject than the vast majority of the biographies I've read.

Your royal-watcher should get one this Yule. A strong corrective for the ick-factor fall of Andrew Windsor.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always knew (well, from my time studying Scottish early modern propaganda, anyway) that there was something more than platonic between King James VI and the Earl of Huntley while the Bonnie Earl of Moray episode was going down, and by gosh Gareth Russell has not only cracked that situation, but has shed so much light on James' whole super sexy reign. Why did we waste all that Showtime money on Henry VIII when James and his biconic life were RIGHT THERE?? In conclusion: this book is fantastic and important, please read it.

[Jemma Forster · Rating 5 out of 5]

From listening to Russel speak last month it’s clear how thoroughly researched this book is, as well as how passionate he is about his work — and this really shines through as you read Queen James. He paints a complex but sympathetic portrait of James, confirming all my suspicions that he is *objectively* this country’s best monarch 🏳️‍🌈 (also soooo useful if you want to improve your knowledge of contemp networks of courtiers/different rival factions)

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though not exactly groundbreaking in terms of its contributions to the scholarship, Gareth Russell’s book remains a triumph. It is eloquently written and its focus is unique making it fresh in its use of previous materials. A must read for anybody interested in James or the Jacobean period.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic!