19th June 2018
Today in 1566, James VI of Scotland and I of England was born at Edinburgh Castle. His mother was Mary Queen of Scots and his father was her second husband Lord Darnley. When Elizabeth I died in 1603, the Tudor dynasty came to an end and James united the crowns of England and Scotland as the first Stuart king of England. The House of Stuart would last until 1714.
Even before he was born, James faced a difficult life. Mary’s relationship with her husband had deteriorated, and Darnley was frustrated at his lack of power despite being married to the queen. Mary refused to grant him the crown matrimonial, which would have made him her equal co-ruler. Darnley also grew increasingly jealous of Mary’s relationship with her personal secretary David Riccio. The situation came to a head when Mary, now six months pregnant with James, was attacked whilst having supper with Riccio. A gun was pointed at Mary’s belly, and Riccio was dragged screaming from the room and stabbed to death.
A year later, when James was only nine months old, his father was staying at Kirk o' Field in Edinburgh when the building was destroyed by a gunpowder explosion. But Darnley was not killed in the blast – his body was found nearby, strangled to death. Many came under suspicion for the murder, including Mary herself, but the chief suspect was the Earl of Bothwell – who Mary married only three months after Darnley’s death.
The scandal of Darnley’s death led to Mary’s forced abdication from the throne, and meant James became king at only thirteen months old. He was raised by a series of regents – two of whom also died violently.
After Mary fled south and was imprisoned in England in 1568, mother and son never saw each other again. She was later executed, and did not live to see her son become the first Stuart king of England.
As king, James believed in his divine right to rule, which led to clashes with parliament. But overall, the government remained stable during his reign. James tried to follow a peaceful foreign policy and avoided expensive wars. He was an intellectual and a supporter of the literary arts, as well as being an author himself. His sponsorship of a new English language translation of the bible – the King James Bible – became not only one of the most widely used and influential versions in the world, but also became one of the most important books in the English language.
James married Anne of Denmark, and they had three children who survived to adulthood – although their eldest son, Henry, died when he was only eighteen. A daughter, Elizabeth, became queen of Bohemia, and their youngest son succeeded James as Charles I.
Images: King James I of England and VI of Scotland, by Unknown artist, late 16th century, based on a work of 1574, NPG 63. © National Portrait Gallery, London. Mary Stuart (formerly Queen Mary I, abdicated) and her son King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England), by Unknown artist, 1583, via Wikimedia Commons.