James, by the Grace of God

James V has grown up as the captive prize of Scotland’s rival noble factions. The Earl of Angus and the Douglas interest dominate the young king, while Henry VIII waits across the border for weakness he can exploit. When James finally escapes Angus’s control, he has the opportunity to become a ruler in fact as well as name.

Freedom, however, does not immediately bring political discipline. James is energetic, impulsive and more attracted to pleasure, travel and romance than to the patient work of government. David Lindsay and David Beaton, his trusted advisers since childhood, must help him recognise manipulation, master the competing Hamilton and Douglas interests and establish the authority of the crown. Their task is complicated by the king’s pride and appetite for risk. The second James V novel follows an inexperienced monarch learning that personal independence is not the same as effective rule, and that every weakness at court can become a weapon against Scotland.