Page 92 - All About History - Issue 56-17

Reviews

THE KING’S ASSASSIN:

THE FATAL AFFAIR OF GEORGE VILLIERS AND JAMES I

Could the gallant courtier James I called
‘wife’ have poisoned him?
Author Benjamin Woolley Publisher Macmillan Price £20 Released Out now
eorge Villiers transcended his minor treatments used while he was bedbound with
background to become the duke of a fever. The author argues that Villiers either
Buckingham by enrapturing James I. He accidentally killed the king or murdered him
was always at the king’s side at court, on as part of a plot to replace James’ distemperate,
Gstate occasions and even in his bedroom. chaotic leadership.
In 1615, Villiers was appointed gentleman of While this conspiracy is at the heart of
the bedchamber, meaning he helped the king The King’s Assassin, the biography also charts
dress, waited on him while he ate in private Villiers’ early life and meteoric rise as well as
and more. So intense was James’ adoration exploring the man’s easy charm, which wooed
for Villiers that he declared he wanted him to so many, and his scheming, which alienated
become his ‘wife’. But in The King’s Assassin, many more.
Benjamin Woolley claims the court favourite Woolley also paints a vivid picture of
may have actually killed James. the Jacobean court, drawing from sources
Woolley acknowledges that this theory including contemporary ambassador reports,
has been rejected by many historians in the couriers’ letters and parliamentary proceedings,
past but nonetheless presents a plausible capturing not only the very real flaws of the
case in its favour. He shares the suspicions of somewhat unlikeable Buckingham but also
contemporary members of parliament who led the deepening fractures between Crown and
an investigation into the king’s death and the Parliament, which would come to a head
thoughts of a modern medical expert as to the with the English Civil War during the reign of
poison likely administered to James during James’ successor, Charles I.

THE 50 GREATEST PREHISTORIC

SITES IN THE WORLD

Take a walking tour through humankind’s deep past
RECOMMENDS… Author Barry Stone Publisher Icon Books Price £8.99 Released Out now

Heroes of Jadotville: here are two things writer Perhaps as a means to justify their
Barry Stone seems to ranking on his list, he actually goes
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the societies that built them. insightful walking tour.
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