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00:03it's the spring of 1616 and on the outskirts of london king james is tormented by fear he can't
00:12sit still he can't sleep he can't eat because the man he once loved the most in the world
00:19is about to stand trial and potentially divulge secrets that will destroy england's scottish king
00:29james has been king of england and ireland for 13 years and king of scots for almost 50. his royal
00:37court is dominated by a series of favorites dazzling dashing and controversial men whose
00:44influence started in the king's bedchamber courtiers allied themselves with james's latest favorites or
00:52schemed to destroy them but what was safe to be known behind the palace walls could be
00:57lethally dangerous if it was known beyond them
01:05when his lover robert carr is put on trial for murder the love that dare not speak its name
01:11is poised to erupt before the eyes of the public
01:15james was nicknamed queen james a slur on both his foreign policy and sexuality
01:25for centuries his private life has been obscured by biographers only now four centuries later can we
01:33tell the true story of queen james
01:53james's reputation is composed of many things the first king to rule scotland ireland and england
02:00the man who commissioned the king james bible
02:05he ordered the plantations of ulster patronized shakespeare survived the gunpowder plot and ordered
02:11witch hunts he's often seen as a neurotic and unpleasant man
02:19his private correspondence reveals that a lot of his paranoia is very easily explained
02:29consider likewise of the difference of the things ye lay to my charge and i lay to yours here is
02:36not
02:36he said or she said i charge you with nothing but things directly acted or spoken to myself
02:46this letter from king james to his favorite robert carr gives us an extraordinary glimpse into the way james
02:54james fell in love stormy passionate and all-consuming james first fell in love at 17
03:02it set the pattern for the rest of his life a charismatic newcomer would rise swiftly to intimacy with the
03:09king
03:10with his love came wealth and power some of his relationships ended amicably others had dramatic falls from grace
03:21james fell passionately in love with uh his favorites and um he loved a number of men for men to
03:30love other men
03:32was a relationship that was exalted it was better than the love of women i.e heterosexual sex
03:38because it was sort of purer because it wasn't sexual but sometimes it it sure was james and his favorites
03:46were
03:47not the only ones who were giving a physical dimension to this relationship
03:57when it comes to discussing same-sex couples in history there are two concerns the first
04:04is that we'll end up projecting 21st century values back onto the generations before us
04:10and the other concern is a well-known joke that when two men were clearly in love lived together for
04:17decades and mourned one another like spouses historians will simply say they were just good friends in
04:24order not to offend anyone the truth lies in the middle attitudes towards homosexuality or bisexuality as
04:31we would call them were very different in the 17th century but they were different to each other's as
04:37well there were as many reactions to it in the 17th century as there are in the 21st and in
04:43the history
04:44of same-sex love there are very few individuals who left such a rich body of evidence as king james
04:51the role of the favorite because they have this special relationship with the king they have this
04:58this intimate access to the king regular access to him a favorite also can become politically and
05:08governmentally really significant james believed that he had the right to happiness in his private life
05:16but that belief risked leaving him exposed i am your king i am placed to govern you and shall answer
05:25for your errors i am a man of flesh and blood i have my passions and affections as other men
05:35when james king of scots succeeds his godmother elizabeth the first in 1603 to also reign over england
05:44and ireland he is the most powerful person in not one but three kingdoms
05:50he is the first person in history to rule all of the british isles yet in a few short years
05:58britain's
05:58new king would be gripped by a scandal that could cost him everything and the slippery slope all started
06:06with a chance encounter it was here on a beautiful spring afternoon in 1607 that a young scottish nobleman
06:16called robert carr fell off his horse while jousting and broke his leg james rushed forward to see if he
06:24was all right the king later visited the wounded knight and those royal visits turned into a daily
06:30occurrence it wasn't long before all the king could think or talk about was robert carr robert carr was a
06:39a handsome young scott he was small fair delicate from portraits and from contemporary descriptions we
06:46can see that he was a very pretty young man i mean you can see the dynamic i mean patient
06:51and nurse and
06:53robert carr with his you know big beautiful eyes batting them james in the sort of tender role of of
06:59carer
06:59and one courtier wrote to another saying that robert carr should be very very grateful to his horse for
07:07falling on him and breaking his leg
07:11as robert's intimacy with the king increased courtiers gossiped with glee but they weren't
07:18surprised that the king had taken a lover they'd seen this before
07:24i'm in scotland to meet stephen verapan to explore how james grappled with his sexuality
07:32well gareth here we have a copy of king james's book basilic and doran which he wrote whilst he
07:38was king of scotland this is what was called a conduct book which were very popular at the time
07:44these were books of instruction generally from fathers to sons lots of elizabethan writers were
07:51producing them so this is james's turn at the wheel so here he says there are some horrible crimes
07:58which you are bound in conscience never to forgive such as witchcraft willful murder incest
08:09and sodomy it's quite the laundry list it is indeed and the one that has drawn a lot of scholarly
08:16attention is not surprisingly sodomy what did it mean to james what did it mean in the time period
08:24in the early modern period sodomy was a kind of catch-all term for a whole number of immoral or
08:30sexual crimes which could range from buggery as it was often termed to incest to bestiality if he did
08:39mean um sex between two men which what we think of it as maybe this is proof that he didn't
08:46uh have
08:47strong same-sex attractions what do you think he meant when he wrote this he's silent on the subject
08:52he says this is a unforgivable crime but he doesn't go on to kind of define what he does go
09:02on to do
09:02though interestingly so this is the next page is talk quite a bit about malicious words against
09:09parents and predecessors is this just a natural progression of his argument or do we have going
09:16on here james naming something and burying it amongst some other crimes which he is aware he is being
09:23accused of and which he is now telling his son don't believe them when you hear them that's a possibility
09:28it's also very possible he's just being a hypocrite it's not unknown for parents to
09:33prohibit their children from doing things that they themselves have done do as i say not as i did
09:38the interesting thing is she says who this book is for which is for prince henry he is james's
09:44firstborn son who is prince henry and what kind of king is james trying to mold him into henry was
09:51the
09:52product of james's marriage with anna of denmark this by all accounts was a fantastically successful
09:59marriage we know that not just because of the production of prince henry but because of the
10:05production of charles of elizabeth of margaret of robert multiple children they were producing
10:10so james was not being an heir in a spare man he wasn't lying back and thinking of scotland
10:15i don't think he was fairly happy and satisfied in his marriage with anna if we think about the
10:21wider audience for this book and there was a wider audience far beyond just prince henry he's trying
10:27to create an image of himself as the patriarch dispensing good christian advice so this is james
10:33controlling his image so this is pr this is pr stuff this is about controlling the brand controlling
10:40the image james was very very good at that james's books were what he let the world see
10:56but i've come to hampton court palace to find out if there was trouble brewing behind closed doors
11:12the physical layout of the royal apartments was designed to mark status and privilege
11:23you are moving through the world's most exclusive nightclub it kind of was structured like that
11:30this is where sort of public audiences would happen the business of monarchy happens here
11:35every time you reach a door you'll encounter ushers who basically function
11:40as jacobean bouncers if your name's not on the list you're not coming in it keeps getting more and
11:48more intimate until after two more doors you reach what is essentially the most exclusive space
11:55in stuart britain and that is the king's very snazzy bedroom
12:03intéressant
12:04for years later james's rooms received this glossy scarlet makeover but the layout of these private
12:11chambers remains the same within only a few months of their chance meeting the person with
12:17full access to these most intimate spaces was the king's new favourite robert carr
12:24James very quickly loads on Robert titles, honours, gifts that really take courtiers back,
12:31sometimes by just the sheer scale of it. And there's a real difference for the English. I
12:34mean, under Elizabeth, political business was done in Privy Council. The bedchamber,
12:39because it was a female space, was a private area. James has had a more blended arrangement
12:43in Scotland. The bedchamber is somewhere where politics happens, where you have access to the
12:47king, you might control patronage and you also formulate policy. And it's in this period that
12:54Carr becomes more than just another one of the king's courtier favourites. He starts to take on
13:03the role of a more political courtier councillor favourite. As Robert's power grew, so did his ego
13:13and cracks started to appear in his relationship with the king. The relationship between Carr and
13:21James starts to turn a bit fraught in the course of 1613. I think we can attribute that to a
13:31change
13:31in how Carr handles the privileged relationship that he had with the king. Proceeding from the
13:39infinite grief of a deeply wounded heart. I have borne this grief within me to the uttermost of my
13:45ability. I told you twice or thrice, you may lead me by the heart and not by the nose. I
13:52cannot deal
13:53honestly if I deal not plainly with you. There are several accounts of how the gentleman of the bedchamber
14:02waiting outside James's actual bedroom would hear Carr going in to see him late at night and shouting at
14:12him. And sometimes they would hear the king weeping. And there's a fantastic letter which King James wrote
14:19to Carr. So we know exactly what was going on behind those closed doors in which he reproaches him for
14:26having spoken to him so rudely and even threatening him and being violent with him and refusing to stay
14:34the night. You have in many of your mad fits done what you can to persuade me that you mean
14:40not so
14:41much to hold me by love hereafter as by awe. I'll leave out of this reckoning your long creeping back
14:47and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber notwithstanding my many hundred times earnest soliciting
14:55you to the contrary. When you read those letters between James and Robert there is very much a sense
15:01of an equal dynamic. It's between two men. It's not on the surface at least the dynamic between a monarch
15:07and a subject. But it's not ever going to be an equal relationship. Robert I think was seduced into a
15:16sense of
15:17complacency. And when Robert starts what James calls that long creeping back coming down the stairs to
15:23spend his night in his own rooms rather than in James's bed. He's playing a very dangerous game.
15:29Your fiery buttades were coupled with a dogged sullen behaviour towards me especially shortly after my fall
15:36though I gave you a far contrary proof after your fall and in all the times of your other diseases.
15:43Within James there are two people man and monarch. At any given moment if he chooses to James can pull
15:51rank and all of a sudden the man recedes and the monarch steps forward. A wounded heart could often become
15:58wounded pride. When that happens that long creeping back to rooms like this goes from something that's
16:05hurtful to the man to something that's insulting to the monarch. For although I confess the privacy
16:12betwixt us will very well allow unto you an infinitely great liberty and freedom of speech unto me
16:19yea even to rebuke me more sharply and bitterly than ever my master does do. Nay to borrow the tongue
16:29of the devil. That cannot come within the compass of any liberty of friendship.
16:37Yet James the monarch did stick with Robert the man. A loyalty that will drag the king into a murder
16:44trial
16:44that threatens to destroy his reign. So why did James form such intense relationships that could leave him
16:53so vulnerable. To find out I am going to magnificent Stirling Castle in Scotland. James's first home.
17:07Before he could walk or talk his father had been murdered Lord Darnley and his mother Mary Queen of Scots
17:15had been driven off the throne. He never saw her again. And so there was little baby James King of
17:22Scotland being brought up virtually under house arrest in Stirling Castle.
17:29He was kind of held prisoner there through his childhood.
17:39Stirling Castle is where James King and man was made but it's in this room in particular that so much
17:47of
17:48James's future personality was shaped for good and ill. This was his schoolroom. By this fireplace he learned
17:56lessons from one of the leading lights of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. A man called George Buchanan
18:02who was living testament to the fact that simply because you know a subject doesn't necessarily mean
18:08you should teach it.
18:12Buchanan teaches him a version of Scottish history in which all of James's royal ancestors
18:17were nothing more than a cabal of liars, traitors or adulterers.
18:23And he saves the largest part of his venom for his extended lessons on the sins of James's Catholic
18:31mother Mary Queen of Scots. Buchanan presents James's mother to her only child as a moral, sexual and political
18:41failure. And if James dares to answer back if he isn't quick enough with a reply, if he's too quick
18:48with a
18:48comeback, Buchanan will beat him.
18:57And in some ways the shadow of this hangs over the rest of James's life. He's always afraid of being
19:04betrayed, humiliated and hurt in the way he was by George Buchanan. And he's always looking for someone
19:12to love him and rescue him.
19:17James emerged from his childhood as intellectually brilliant and emotionally traumatised.
19:24As a teenager, he survived kidnapping and assassination plots. But in 1605, he escaped the greatest treachery
19:33of all. If the gunpowder plot had succeeded, it would have been the most devastating terrorist attack
19:41I think probably in the history of the world. The plan was to blow up the Palace of Westminster
19:48at the opening of Parliament. The king, the entriest ruling class, the aristocracy, would have been there.
19:57James had a very long experience of treason attempted against his person. He was a great survivor.
20:08In the kingdom where I was born and past the first part of my life, I should have been baptised
20:13in blood,
20:14yet it pleased God to deliver me from the very brink of death, from the point of the dagger.
20:21This is a story of a plot where nothing actually happened. No bomb went off. Nothing actually
20:27occurred. But it has a very important place in James's story.
20:34James is a publicity king. And he exploits the opportunity provided by being saved from such danger.
20:47And therefore, he inaugurates commemorations of major events.
20:59His deliverance from the gunpowder plot of 1605 is still with us today in Bonfire Night.
21:07We've just tried to blow him and his parliament to hell, for Christ's sake.
21:11Our cause has always been a just one.
21:15And it ends here.
21:17Tonight.
21:19Torches!
21:21Torchlights through the windows approaching!
21:23Soldiers!
21:24Sights approaching!
21:34Re-enactments like this, as well as fireworks and bonfires, are some of the ways we still
21:40remember the gunpowder plot.
21:43But for James, there were annual services of Thanksgiving.
21:46It wasn't an act of commemoration.
21:49It was an act of condemnation.
21:54And every time he went to those services with Robert by his side, he relived the terror
22:01and the treachery he'd narrowly escaped in 1605.
22:08He's a shameless self-publicist.
22:11He takes advantage of the fact of his being saved to legitimate his kingship in very public
22:19demonstrations of the godliness and rightness of his kingship.
22:24Because if he were not a legitimate and godly ruler, then the providential God would not have
22:31saved him repeatedly.
22:32This was not a crying sin of blood, but a roaring, nay, a thundering sin of fire and brimstone
22:44from the which God hath so miraculously delivered us all.
23:02James was someone who always wanted peace, wanted to trust.
23:07He wanted it deeply, but he was also always waiting for it to be snatched from him.
23:14And James' love, I think, was like flames in the night.
23:18It burned brightly, but it was always surrounded by darkness and uncertainty.
23:25He was always wondering who would be the next person to betray him or break his trust.
23:42At the height of their affair, it was Robert who had James' trust.
23:48And as long as Robert had access to James, he had access to power.
23:53But what about those who had access to Robert?
23:57Robert Kerr had his best friend, Sir Thomas Overbury, who was a bit older than him, quite
24:05a lot cleverer, I think.
24:07Overbury was acting as his secretary, and to be a great man's secretary was a position
24:12of great influence and trust.
24:15I don't think Robert is the most efficient political administrator.
24:18I mean, he's clearly the object of James' affections, but he gets quite...
24:38I don't know the right of the way he sees him, but I think he's a little bit older.
24:44I think that he's a little bit older than him.
24:45And as a man, this is a woman who was a man in the middle,
24:46He looks like a woman in the middle, and he thinks it's okay.
24:48And I think he's a woman with a man who was a man out for a woman from this,
24:52and he's a wife who was a man in the middle.
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