#Britain’s only openly #gay & #proud #monarch #kingjamesi was the first king to unite England, Wales, Ireland & Scotland 1603-1625 he was the son of #maryqueenofscots & a lover of the arts, ushering in the #StuartEra & the #baroque with his son #KingCharlesI they transformed Britain & #Ireland from a cultural backwater into the greatest kingdom of Europe giving birth to #eccentricity As the quintessential aspect of the British character! He scorned the Puritans for their prudishness & when the #privycouncil Hauled him before then to defend his “unnatural love for his lover George Villiers Duke of Buckingham, King James I declared: “I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man like any other. Therefore I act like a man & confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, & more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf & not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, & therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, & I have George.” (at St James's Street)
