Southwark Cathedral History Festival
Sat 19 Jul
|Southwark Cathedral Library
Join acclaimed historian, Gareth Russell, as he shares insights about his groundbreaking new book Queen James—genius, liar, spendthrift, idealist, witch-hunter— and the man behind of the most dramatic stories in British royal history. This is a ticketed event.
Time & Location
19 Jul 2025, 14:00 – 15:00 BST
Southwark Cathedral Library, London Brg, London SE1 9DA, UK
About The Event
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 – once with George Villiers, ‘the handsomest man in the whole world’ – and he was infatuated three more times – including with a Highland earl and an English spy.
We have so much on 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…