[MR] Wikipedia: King James VI and I

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

On this date in 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died. Her closest living
male relative was King James VI of Scotland, descended from King Henry VII,
and his daughter Margaret Tudor.

The accession of James I of England, as he was to be styled, was not a done
deal. There were other English claimants, and enmity against all things
Scottish was rampant. Elizabeth never said explicitly who was to be her
successor. It was Robert Cecil, Elizabeth's spymaster, who had secretly
smoothed James' accession in advance of her death. Yes, treason, but
probably a good thing. Otherwise there would have been chaos and a possible
civil war.

James was happy to relocate to England, and turned his back on Scotland for
the much more cushy and important job as King of England. He returned to
Scotland only once in 1617. Although both Scotland and England (plus
Ireland, and a rather hollow claim to the French throne) were now ruled by
the same monarch, the two countries were still separate, each with their
own parliaments, laws, customs, and priorities. At least James was able to
more-or-less secure peace between the two countries. England and Scotland
were not formally united until 1707.

More about James is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆