The Six Loves of James I

Gareth Russell presents the private and political life of James VI of Scotland and James I of England through the relationships that most strongly influenced him. James’s traumatic childhood, intellectual interests, belief in divine kingship and hopes for union are examined beside his marriage to Anne of Denmark and his attachments to five men. The book treats those same-sex relationships as part of the evidence for understanding the king rather than as scandal to be dismissed or reduced to modern labels.

Affection and access repeatedly intersected with patronage, faction and government, especially when royal favourites acquired offices and enemies at court. The biography also considers the Union of the Crowns, the Gunpowder Plot, the King James Bible, plantation in Ulster and James’s pacific response to European war. The work was first published in the UK and Ireland as Queen James and later issued in North America as The Six Loves of James I.