Did George Villiers Kill King James I?

Spoiler alert: This text could comprise spoilers for Mary & George.

We’ve all heard about scandal and corruption within the Royal Household, however there’s a lot extra past King Henry VIII’s six wives. Centuries later, to start with of the Stuarts’ royal bloodline, King James VI of Scotland and I of England (we’ll simply confer with him as James), impressed rumors of gay affairs because of his penchant for younger and good-looking males.

Starz’s latest sequence, Mary & George, chronicles King James’s influential relationship with George Villiers, a seemingly powerless man who amassed some sway within the royal courtroom of the seventeenth century. George’s mom, Mary, introduced her son from anonymity to a management place because of her plotting and scheming. And one rumored scheme is that George truly killed King James, however is that true?

The connection between George and James happened nearly 500 years in the past. At this level, all we are able to go on are the anecdotes and information already shared, that are what impressed Benjamin Woolley’s e-book, The King’s Murderer: The Deadly Affair of George Villiers and James I. The e-book is the supply materials for Mary & George and revolves round George and James’s relationship earlier than George allegedly poisoned James.

Within the 342-page e-book, Benjamin chronicles how George fell into James’s favor. Mary’s husband had simply handed away, and he or she and her son have been ready to lose all of their monetary property. So, she hatched a plan to get her son into the king’s good graces and confidence. Realizing that King James I surrounded himself with younger and good-looking males, she launched her son, George, to the courtroom.

James was rapidly enamored with George, and regardless of George taking a place because the king’s bedfellows, James continued to disclaim rumors of homosexuality, claiming that anal intercourse was an irredeemable type of sodomy. However, James usually acted in ways in which confirmed disregard for guidelines as he felt he was above the legislation, maybe each non secular and state legislation, as evidenced in his partying repute.

James and George acquired so shut that George was primarily his right-hand man. However to dispel rumors of homosexuality, he in contrast their relationship to that of Jesus and his disciple, John. “I want to converse in my very own behalf and to not have it considered a defect, for Jesus Christ did the identical, and due to this fact I can’t be blamed. Christ had John, and I’ve George,” he advised his Privy Council in 1617.

However when it got here to James’s demise, many speculated that George had one thing to do with it, contemplating the truth that George was by James’s aspect on the time. However James long-suffered from numerous illnesses — enamel loss, arthritis, gout, and kidney stones have been frequent points for the growing old alcoholic king. As his well being deteriorated, George grew nearer to James’s son, Charles, to safe his place within the council going ahead.

In 1625, King James fell deathly ailing to a bout of malaria that brought on a stroke. As George sat by James’s bedside, he gave him medication that might have truly worsened James’s situation. Benjamin shared of George’s potential homicide of James: “It could have been by chance – the appliance of a quack treatment whereas the king was weakened by a malarial assault. However there’s compelling proof that Villiers, overcome by ambition and pissed off by James’s passive strategy to authorities, poisoned him.”

George was acquitted of all accusations, though he remained unpopular all through the nation after James’s demise. Many nonetheless suspected he purposely killed the king based mostly on his personal ambitions, however based mostly on the proof from the time, that appears unlikely. Extra seemingly is the truth that James merely fell too ailing to outlive previous 58 years outdated, which outdated the life expectancy of that period by at the least 20 years.