Tag Archives: King James I of England

The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley

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The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley was published in 2024 by Simon and Schuster. I think this is the third book that I’ve enjoyed by this author. The setting is mainly 1613, Scotland and England.

King James VI’s eldest son Henry has just died, he was just 18 and he had been very popular with the ordinary people, he had been tall, handsome and healthy so it was a shock when he started to have nose bleeds and digestive problems. Inevitably people were suspicious of his demise, none more so than Sir David Moray who had been Henry’s tutor and companion since he had been a young prince. Sir David was more of a father than his father the king had ever been. But jealousy at court led to the finger of suspicion being pointed at Sir David.

The King’s Messenger Andrew Logan is given the task of arresting Sir David and bringing him to the King in London for a ‘trial’ but the outcome of course would be a foregone conclusion. A scribe has also been ordered to accompany them and as he is in ill health his daughter decides to go too.

This is a great read and the 373 pages flew past too quickly for me, I really didn’t want it to end.  Sorrow, adventure, romance and honour, all wrapped in a lovely map of Scotland and England endpapers, with a key showing the locations.

If you do read it don’t miss the sections at the end of the book: ABOUT THE CHARACTERS and A NOTE OF THANKS. They are both informative and if you are like me will spur you on to do some more historical research of your own.  What a miserable ‘family’ life Queen Anne had with King James, I hadn’t realised that he didn’t allow any of their five children to live with their mother – or him. Did he think that was normal as his mother Mary, Queen of Scots had been deprived of him? Surely the children would have been safer with their mother.

It looks like this book won’t be published outside the UK until the 4th of March.

 

 

 

 

Glamis Castle grounds

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The long driveway which leads to Glamis Castle is flanked by fields of cattle, if you have to be a cow this is one of the best places to be one I think. Good grass, lovely trees to hide from the sun, when we get it, not a bad life – for a while anyway.

cows at Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland

This fountain is just beyond the field of cows and if you’re in the castle you would be looking out on to it from the front windows, unfortunately it wasn’t up and running, which is a pity because I love fountains and for some reason there aren’t enough of them in Britain. Nice trees though, the whole area is well planted tree wise. As you can see from the blue rope there was some sort of festival going on at Glamis and they were busy preparing the grounds for it.

A fountain at Glamis Castle

Going beyond the castle you come to this dinky wee bridge which I just had to have a look at, bridges being something else I’m keen on. We never did find out what was over the bridge as you can see you aren’t meant to go over it. There were a few cars coming over it in the other direction, belonging to the Strathmore family I suppose.

Stone bridge at Glamis Castle, Angus, Scotland

These two statues are of Stuart kings. This one is James VI of Scotland – he was Mary, Queen of Scots’ son and when Elizabeth I of England died with no heir, he was next in line for the English throne. He’s known as James I in England and he is probably best known nowadays as the man who had the bible translated into English – hence it being known as the King James bible.

King James VI of Scotland

This one is King Charles I (Stuart)

King Charles I

He was a bit ‘thrawn’ as we say and his determination to hold on to all of his power led to him having his head chopped off which more or less ended the English Civil War (which actually spread all over Britain.) It was about fifteen years later the Restoration brought his son, Charles II, back as king.

Captain Hook from J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan is traditionally modelled on Charles I.