James Charles Stuart

James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was the only surviving legitimate child of Mary and became King of Scotland as James VI when he was just 13 months old after his mother was forced to abdicate. He was raised by regents and educated by Protestant tutors. He became a scholar and a patron of arts and literature. He also had a keen interest in witchcraft and wrote a treatise on the subject called Daemonologie.² In 1589, he married Anne of Denmark by proxy and then in person in Oslo. They had seven children, but only three survived to adulthood: Henry, Elizabeth and Charles. James was a devoted father and husband, but he also had several male favourites who influenced his political decisions. The most notable of these were Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham.² In 1603, he succeeded Elizabeth I as King of England and Ireland as James I, uniting the crowns of England and Scotland for the first time. He faced many challenges in his new realm, such as religious conflicts between Anglicans, Puritans and Catholics; political disputes with Parliament over taxation and royal prerogatives; and plots against his life such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.² One of his most lasting achievements was the commissioning of a new translation of the Bible into English, which became known as the King James Version or the Authorized Version. It was completed in 1611 and is still widely used today. James also supported the colonization of North America by granting charters to companies such as the Virginia Company and the Plymouth Company. He hoped to establish a profitable empire overseas and to spread Protestantism to the New World.² James died on 27 March 1625 at Theobalds House in Hertfordshire after suffering a stroke and a bout of dysentery. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in London. He was succeeded by his son Charles I, who inherited his father's problems with Parliament and religion and eventually plunged the country into civil war.²