#King James VI and I

[k-wame]

It's Good To Be King. ↳ King James I & His Gentlemen of The Chamber ↳ MARY & GEORGE (2024) · S1·EP3

[jenneferofjengaberg]

NICHOLAS GALITZINE as George Villiers 👑 If there is we'll have to meet him. 👑

[oceancentury]

Tony Curran and Nicholas Galitzine as King James VI and I and George Villiers, The Duke of Buckingham in Mary & George (2024)

[moonbreezes]

if I were to pick my favourite scene from the entire show this takes the crown easily. It is just so James, I have no words to describe it. I was rendered speechless the first time I have heard this monologue. It was also the only time I became emotional, sad even because of this entire show. It made me feel the heartbreak and grief and the inability to process those feelings. The questioning of what love is. the metaphor of love as a tempest that is so apt; it does not only reflect the relationship between Anne and James, the genesis of their first meeting, but also it represents this entire show. 

[iusedtobethemoon]

march 27: king james' real death day and alex claremont-diaz's canonical bday

no one on twitter appreciated this fucking masterpiece i made pls someone enjoy

[thomasbrodiesandwich]

these mary and george parallels have been living in my head rent free ever since i've watched it...

[mhevarujta]

“I, James, am neither God nor an angel, but a man like any other. Therefore I act like a man, and 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, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf, and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had his John, and I have my George.”

[onemomentinhispresence]

[binary-bfs]

alright which one of you is responsible 😂

[hussyknee]

Somewhat put off by the spoilers I've read about Mary and George. There's no doubt nearly all relationships in the British court were some level of sordid, but King James, to all intents and purposes, had genuine feelings for his three male favourites, most especially George Villiers. He was no Henry VIII. I don't know why they wanted to reduce the most famous and open homosexual relationship in European royal history to a comedy between a "cock-struck" old lech and a conniving courtier that led him by the nose and then betrayed and murdered him.

All evidence points to George at least being loyal to James (if you discount his love letters as simply sucking up to his benefactor) and even had a fond relationship with his Queen and his son Charles. He was in fact in France when James died, and reportedly cried when he heard the news.

It's even a little heartbreaking because this is right after Nicholas Galitzine played the closeted gay Prince Henry in Red, White and Royal Blue, who in the book is proud of the open and unashamed love between his ancestor and his lover, and the way even James's son Charles I honoured Villiers for accompanying him to the Spanish Court to ask for the hand of the Infanta.

“Actually . . . you remember how I told you about the gay king, James I?”

“The one with the dumb jock boyfriend?”

“Yes, that one. Well, his most beloved favorite was a man named George Villiers. ‘The handsomest-bodied man in all of England,’ they called him. James was completely besotted. Everyone knew. This French poet, de Viau, wrote a poem about it.” He clears his throat and starts to recite: ‘One man fucks Monsieur le Grand, another fucks the Comte de Tonnerre , and it is well known that the King of England, fucks the Duke of Buckingham.’” Alex must be staring, because he adds, “Well, it rhymes in French. Anyway. Did you know the reason the King James translation of the Bible exists is because the Church of England was so displeased with James for flaunting his relationship with Villiers that he had the translation commissioned to appease them?”

“You’re kidding.”

“He stood in front of the Privy Council and said, ‘Christ had John, and I have George.’’

“Jesus.”

“Precisely.” Henry’s still looking up at the statue, but Alex can’t stop looking at him and the sly smile on his face, lost in his own thoughts. “And James’s son, Charles I, is the reason we have dear Samson. It’s the only Giambologna that ever left Florence. He was a gift to Charles from the King of Spain, and Charles gave it, this massive, absolutely priceless masterpiece of a sculpture, to Villiers. And a few centuries later, here he is. One of the most beautiful pieces we own, and we didn’t even steal it. We only needed Villiers and his trolloping ways with the queer monarchs. To me, if there were a registry of national gay landmarks in Britain, Samson would be on it.”

Henry’s beaming like a proud parent, like Samson is his, and Alex is hit with a wave of pride in kind.

He takes his phone out and lines up a shot, Henry standing there all soft and rumpled and smiling next to one of the most exquisite works of art in the world.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking a picture of a national gay landmark,” Alex tells him. “And also a statue.”

Like all white liberals, Casey McQuiston tends to romanticise the crime against humanity that is royalty and also that house built by bunch of slave owners that has since housed a progression of genocidal war criminals. There's very little to like about any British monarch. But the relationship between James and Villiers is a significant part of gay history and there's no need to smear it even more than it's already been smeared the last four hundred years, contrary to the actual known facts.

Idk man. I'm sensitive to this stuff Ig. Maybe I'd be a little more positive about it if I watched it, but the trailer gave me "tee hee they're gay" vibes so Idk if I want to.

Edit: so it seems the trailer is misleading and the story is more complex than a "tee hee gay" comedy. I might watch it after all, even if the starkly visible age difference makes me a bit queasy. How tf is Galitzine nearly thirty and a babyface with those razor cheekbones?? Perfect to show how uncomfortable it looks for a middle aged man to get with a kid of twenty.

[meraki-yao]

WELL FUCK ME I GUESS HOLY SHIT

[k-wame]

King James I & the Earl of Somerset MARY & GEORGE (2024) · S1·EP1

[jenneferofjengaberg]

MARY & GEORGE - 1.01 'The Second Son'

[oceancentury]

King James VI and I speaking to the Privy Council in 1617: “You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham (George) more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George.”

[andiatas]

Royal Reads: Apr-Jun 2024

Note: Some of the following links are affiliate links, which means I earn a commission on every purchase. This does not affect the price you pay.

George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Shaped the Monarchy by Sally Bedell Smith (new paperback version published Apr. 11, 2024) // Heroines of the Tudor World by Sharon Bennett Connolly (Jun. 15, 2024)

Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII's Queens by Charlotte Bolland, Suzannah Lipscomb, Nicola Clarke, Brett Dolman, Alden Gregory, Benjamin Hebbert, Nicola Tallis, Valerie Schutte (Jun. 20, 2024) // Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors by Tom Bower (new paperback version published Apr. 16, 2024) // The Private Life of James II by Justine Ruth Brown (May 30, 2024)

The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens by Nicola Clark (Apr. 25, 2024) // James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566-1603 by Alexander Courtney (Jun. 3, 2024)

Wise Words from King Charles III by Karen Dolby (Apr. 25, 2024) // Hunting the Falcon: Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and the Marriage That Shook Europe by John Guy, Julia Fox (new paperback version published Jun. 6, 2024) // Herod the Great: Jewish King in a Roman World by Martin Goodman (May 14, 2024)

Rasputin's Killer and his Romanov Princess by Coryne Hall (Jun. 15, 2024) // Catherine de' Medici: The Life and Times of the Serpent Queen by Mary Hollingsworth (Jun. 6, 2024) // Power and Glory: Elizabeth II and the Rebirth of Royalty by Alexander Larman (new hardcover published Apr. 30, 2024)

Stephen and Matilda's Civil War: Cousins of Anarchy by Matthew Lewis (May 30, 2024) // Courting the Virgin Queen: Queen Elizabeth I And Her Suitors by Carol Ann Lloyd (Jun. 30, 2024) // Babur: The Chessboard King by Aabhas Maldahiyar (Jun. 27, 2024)

Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist by Victoria Owens (Jun. 30, 2024) // Thorns, Lust and Glory: The betrayal of Anne Boleyn by Estelle Paranque (May 2, 2024)

The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of Royal History at Hampton Court by Gareth Russell (new paperback version published May 9, 2024) // The Lost Queen: The Surprising Life of Catherine of Braganza, Britain’s Forgotten Monarch by Sophie Shorland (Jun. 6, 2024)

The Royal Palaces: Secrets and Scandals by Kate Williams, James Oses (Jun. 27, 2024) // The Mysterious Death of Katherine Parr: What Really Happened to Henry VIII's Last Queen? by June Woolerton (Apr. 4, 2024) // Izabela the Valiant: The Story of an Indomitable Polish Princess by Adam Zamoyski (Jun. 20, 2024)

[moonbreezes]

him as George Villiers posing in front of a portrait of George’s son (another) George Villiers made me feel kinda giddy ngl

*edit because in all of this excitement I forgot to add credits*

Portrait George Villiers (1628–1687), 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Governor of the Charterhouse from 1670 by Robert Wignall