THE WISEST FOOL

James VI and I the first monarch to reign over Scotland England and Ireland has long endured a mixed reputation To many he is simply the homosexual King the inveterate witch roaster the smelly sovereign who never washed the colourless man behind the authorised Bible bearing his name or the drooling fool whose speech could barely be understood For too long he has paled in comparison to his more celebrated Tudor and Stuart forebears But who was he really To what extent have myth anecdote and rumour obscured him In this new and ground breaking biography James s story is laid bare and a welter of scurrilous outrageous assumptions penned by his political opponents put to rest What emerges is a portrait of Elizabeth I s successor as his contemporaries knew him a gregarious idealistic man obsessed with the idea of family whose personal and political goals could never match up to reality With reference to letters libels and state papers it casts fresh light on the personal domestic international and sexual politics of this misunderstood sovereign A real page turner for lovers of history Philippa Gregory