#benjamin woolley

Owned: No, library Page count: 294 My summary: A biographical look at the life and affairs of George Villiers, favourite and potential lover of King James I - cut down in his thirties for his suspected hand in the death of the king. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

History! Yeah, so while I’m generally not the sort of person to give a shit about monarchs, James Stuart is interesting to me for a couple of reasons; primarily, I have to admit, because he was most likely gay, and that’s interesting. The idea that George Villiers, his ‘favourite’, was responsible for his death is sort of the draw of this book, but really it focuses more on George’s rise to power and his relationships with James and his son Charles, with the king’s death and George’s subsequent death at the hands of people who assumed he killed the king being relegated to the last few pages. It’s not really a let-down, as I was in this more for James and George’s relationship than anything else, but it does feel a bit like false advertising.

So what can be said about King James I? Honestly, I really don’t have much to say about this book. It was an interesting enough read, don’t get me wrong, but I find myself with precious little to report. Other than the fact that James was so gay. ‘Christ had his John and I my George’? That’s...not the sort of thing a man who is not attracted to men says. George himself seems like many people in stories of monarchs from around this time - ambitious, power-hungry, willing to go to great lengths to secure his own fortunes. I do have to wonder what the private nature of his relationship with James was. Was there a romantic/sexual aspect behind closed doors? Did George return any affection given, or was it entirely for gain on his end? The author comes to the conclusion that George definitely killed James, but there’s so little evidence given that I wonder about the validity of that conclusion. I mean, in the end, we’ve no way of knowing any of this short of time travel and mind reading, but it made for an interesting read at least.