The Cradle King

'Stewart includes plenty of fascinating detail on every aspect of this controversial king's reign...And Stewart's scholarship is impeccable.'Frank McLynn, Literary ReviewAs the son of Mary Queen of Scots, James had the most precarious of childhoods. By the time James was one year old, his father was murdered, possibly with the connivance of his mother; Mary was in exile in England; and James was King of Scotland. By the age of five, he had experienced three different regents as the ancient dynasties of Scotland battled for power. For the rest of his life, he would be caught up in bitter struggles between the warring political and religious factions.Yet Jame's caution and politicking won him the English throne on Elizabeth's death in 1603 and he rapidly set about trying to achieve the Union of the two kingdoms. Alan Stewart's impeccably researched new biography makes brilliant use of original sources to bring to life the conversations and the controversies of the Jacobean age. In doing so, he uncovers the extent to which Charles I's downfall was caused by the cracks that appeared in the monarchy during his father's reign.'A timely new biography.'Antonia Fraser, BBC History'A sensitive, even tender, account of the formation of James's personality in the violence and savagery of Reformation Scotland.'James Buchan, Guardian