Queen James by Gareth Russell (Paperback)

Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain's First King
Publishes 12 February 2026
 
‘Elizabeth was king, Then James was queen.’ – English author (1603)
 
James Stuart, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland did not always love wisely, but he never failed to do so boldly. 

He fell in love three times – with a Scottish lord, a knight and George Villiers, ‘the handsomest man in the whole world’. He was infatuated three more times – with a Highland earl, a Welsh lord and an English spy. We know so much about the six wives of Henry VIII, why not the six loves of James I? This groundbreaking new book puts James – genius, liar, spendthrift, idealist, witch-hunter – and the men he loved at the centre of one of the most dramatic stories in British royal history.

Beginning with the brutal and mysterious murder of his father in 1567, James’s life encompassed kidnapping, witchcraft trials, torture, his mother’s beheading, poison, political radicalism, religious fundamentalism, a queen’s alleged abortion, passionate sex, strong love, stronger hate, espionage, brothels, and a decade-long love affair that ended in assassination. It is unquestionably one of the most gripping stories in British history, retold in Gareth Russell’s Queen James with scholarship, biographical insight and wit.
 
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A BBC History magazine, Esquire, Historia magazine and Waterstones History Book of the Year
 
'James comes alive in full flamboyance … Russell expertly weaves the bedchamber gossip into the tapestry of a tumultuous reign.' - SUNDAY TIMES
 
'Brings the backbiting and power struggles of the Jacobean court to life with wit and vigour.' - OBSERVER
 
‘A warts and all story told with compassion.’ - PHILIPPA GREGORY