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you know this woman don't you
of course you do but what about king
james the sixth and first the only child
of her rocky marriage to the dashing
lord darnley
king james traded his rattle for a crown
as his mom was held captive and they
never saw each other again
and when queen elizabeth the first died
he inherited the english throne becoming
king of scotland england ireland and
wales making history by uniting the
kingdoms under one crown
a peaceful-ish ruler james believed god
had chosen him to rule it was his divine
right as a protestant he was unpopular
with catholics but survived guy fawkes
and his pal's famous gunpowder plot he
was also a scholar a poet a theologian
and a patron of the arts he made the
bible accessible to the english-speaking
world with the king james bible
but you knew all of that what about the
juicy stuff
overshadowed by his charming mother and
her tragic demise there's much more to
king james than meets the eye making him
one of britain's most enigmatic monarchs
a wee bit of bling has always made a
statement amongst the rich and famous
and it was no different in the 16th and
17th centuries but no king rocked the
bling quite like king james
in this portrait he shows off his love
for his wife anna of denmark and son
prince henry by wearing their
diamond-studded initials in his hat
he loved to commission jewels to
commemorate important events like the
mirror of great britain a hat jewel with
a whopping 55-carat diamond which
celebrated the union of the crowns it
now sits in the louvre
the man didn't leave home without his
jewels or his jeweler george herriot
nicknamed jingle and jordy harriet was
known for his noisy purse full of coins
james asked harriet to remount the three
brothers jewel for his son prince
charles to wear while on a mission to
madrid to woo the spanish princess he
even named his dog joel
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precious objects personal letters
prestigious roles and honors were gifted
to james's favorites these lucky
recipients had one thing in common they
were all young attractive male courtiers
they included the earl of carlisle and
the duke of buckingham perhaps their
flashy roughs were gifts too
this reputation caused quite a stir and
a web of rumors inside a debate about
the king's sexuality but were these men
actually james's lovers or was it just
gossip fueled by bitter rivals who were
dissatisfied with their new king
whatever the truth may be it is buried
with his majesty at westminster abbey
but hold on king james wasn't kind to
everyone
amongst the glitz and glam james had a
much darker sight let's take a step back
back to when king james was the king of
scots when a violent sea storm nearly
cost him and his danish bride their
lives king james cast blame over a group
of women that he accused as witches
under his command the women were tried
tortured and killed in a period that
became known as the north barrick witch
trials
this spurred a deadly wave of witch
hunts throughout britain and in case
anyone had any queries about witches
james penned a handy guide
demonology offered tips on how to
identify and resist these detestable
slaves of the devil
rumor has it that shakespeare himself
used a bit of its witchy research as
inspiration for his play macbeth
james's determination to protect the
stewart dynasty was a triumph and
following james's death his son charles
commissioned one of the greatest artists
of the day peter paul rubens to paint
james's divine coronation as he sailed
toward heaven
then over 80 years later james's dream
of a fully united britain came true as
the parliament of england and scotland
united in 1707 under the reign of his
great-granddaughter queen anne
though our bling king probably ruled in
his grave when he learned that queen
anne preferred
a more modest approach
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