James VI and I
Reigned: 1567–1625 (in Scotland)
1603–25 (in England)
- The only child of Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley (both great-grandchildren of Henry VII)
- Became ruler of Scotland as an infant, following his mother’s abdication
- Married Anne of Denmark in 1589; their children included Henry, Prince of Wales, Charles I and the ‘Winter Queen’, Elizabeth of Bohemia
- On Elizabeth I’s death in 1603, he united the crowns of England and Scotland, moved south to England and became the first monarch of the Stuart dynasty in England.
- Adopted the title King of Great Britain which was used by his Stuart successors although formal union of the two kingdoms did not occur until 1707.
- Initially opposed by Catholic sympathisers, whose ‘Gunpowder Plot’ was discovered on 5 November 1605
- Commissioned a new translation of the Bible: the Authorised Version (‘King James Bible’), published in 1611
- Described by Clarendon as ‘That great peacemaker, Britain’s peaceful King’
- Wrote Basilikon Doron, expounding the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, and A Counterblaste to Tobacco, as well as many theological and political tracts
- Commissioned numerous portraits, on both a grand and a miniature scale, to help recognition of the Stuart dynasty in England
- Employed Inigo Jones to add the Queen’s House to Greenwich Palace, the Banqueting House to Whitehall Palace and the Queen’s Chapel to St James’s Palace
- Founded a tapestry factory at Mortlake, Surrey