In 1589, James married Anne of Denmark and in the years that followed, they had a daughter and two sons. Many historians saw the arrangement as a marriage of convenience, since the couple was never really seen as a loving one. It appeared that James went to Esme for his more intimate needs. As historian Carolyn Bingham noted, "He expected [Esme] to supply everything that [James} had always lacked and everything that he was now beginning to need: to be his family, his beloved, his friend, his mentor and counselor, and his constant companion."

It is worth noting that Esme had a family as well: a devout Catholic wife and several children back in France. His wife made several attempts to relocate to Scotland to be with her husband, but they were all denied by the king. Furthermore, no records have ever been found of Esme even wanting his wife around complicating matters.

If any type of wall separated these two men, it was religion. Esme was Roman Catholic while James was Protestant. This would soon change however, when Esme converted to Protestism, to the surprise of his family and countrymen in France. It appeared that Esme turned his back on them. James did not care however and saw this act as a statement of their love. He soon named Esme Duke of Lennox, making him the only duke in Scotland.

As one can imagine, Esme's presence in Scotland caused a great deal of resentment and hostility due to the various gifts and titles he received from James. Queen Elizabeth of England was weary of Esme since day one, and sent several men to spy on him and his growing affection towards the king.

The lords who opposed Esme came together in 1582 and waited for their chance to strike. The opportunity presented itself in August of that year, when the men kidnapped King James as he was returning from a hunting trip. The conspirators justified holding the young king by bringing together a lengthy list of charges against Esme, even blaming him for James' wrongdoings. This way, they made Esme out to be a corrupter, and that capturing James was an effort to free him. They even moved James to other towns on a regular basis so that he would not appear to be imprisoned.

Despite the conspirator's best efforts, James would not relinquish his love for Esme. As one of the opposing lords wrote, "Albeit the [King] is pleased to yield his person to the lords present, yet he [keeps] his affection still fastened on the duke." However, the lords insisted that James send Esme out of Scotland. Captured and overpowered, the young king complied. The two lovers never saw each other again.

This was a very tragic situation. As James lived in hope of being rescued by Esme, Esme hoped of one day being recalled to Scotland. They exchanged letters in a secret manner, but Esme could not bring together enough troops or devise a plan to free the young king. Even if he could, he feared for his own life. The two lovers wrote to each other until Esme's death in 1583. The truly sad part was that James received Esme's more passionate letters after he died, and James did not know until much later.

According to the letters that James wrote to Carr, the king felt sexually trapped in his unsatisfying marriage and longed for a more satisfactory relationship. James also spoiled Carr with gifts and political power as he did with Esme. The king's eldest son, Prince Henry, strongly disliked Car and was probably jealous of his relationship with James. Anne was not fond of him either, for obvious reasons.

With the untimely deaths of Prince Henry and James' secretary of state in 1612, a year after James commissioned the translation of the Bible, Carr's political power skyrocketed. He became a Confidential Secretary to James, and eventually the Earl of Somerset. However, Carr fell in love with Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, and on the day after Christmas in 1613, the couple married. James supported the marriage and even paid for the wedding. He was alright with it as long as Carr remembered his obligations to the king.

Carr's sexual relations extended well beyond his wife and king. The most notable of these was writer Thomas Overbury. Their relationship was not the smoothest, but in time Overbury knew more state secrets than the Privy Council. James obviously was not having this. Whether it was due to jealousy or the fact that Overbury knew so much, James sent him to the Tower of London.

During Overbury's six-month stay at the Tower, from which he would not leave alive, he frequently wrote to Carr, urging his lover to help him gain release. Overbury's letters rang of frustration and desperation. He even threatened to out their relationship if Carr did not comply. However, Overbury would die of poisoning in September 1613. When evidence pointed to Carr and his wife having a part in the writer's murder, the couple was placed under house arrest. During this time, Carr desperately searched for letters to and from Overbury and other documents that might have proven embarrassing or incriminating.

In November 1615, the couple was formally charged in the murder of Thomas Overbury, and six months later the trial was under way. King James, who was extremely shocked by the whole thing, begged Carr to admit his guilt, to no avail. To this day, all that is known of Carr's part in the murder was that he was an accessory. His wife Frances admitted her guilt, however.

Nerves were high during the trial, as neither Carr nor James wanted their homosexual affairs to be revealed. Unfortunately for Carr, his letters were read during the trial and it was made known that not only did Carr and Overbury have an affair, but Carr shared state secrets with him. These letters provided enough evidence to condemn Carr and his wife. Both were found guilty and sentenced to death in May 1616.

The Carrs spent six years in the Tower. Although the couple did not die there, Carr's affair with the king did. The letters they exchanged vividly expressed their strained feelings of frustration at each other. Carr and his wife gained release from prison in 1622, and moved out to the countryside where they would spend the rest of their lives. Two years later, James granted Carr a pardon. Despite their breakup, perhaps James still had some feelings for the former page-boy.

Many of the letters these two exchanged over a ten-year period have survived to the present day. In these letters, James often addressed Buckingham as "Only sweet and dear child," "Sweetheart," and "Sweet child and wife," and signed himself "Thy dear dad and husband." It is quite clear that their relationship paralleled some modern gay romances in which one partner is significantly older than the other.

Their love intensified when Queen Anne died in 1619. James fell ill soon after and he knew he would not recover. Buckingham seldom left his king's bedside, but he was away when King James died in 1625. Buckingham would be assassinated three years later.

One question remains, however. Is it the penultimate irony that a gay man has indirectly brought Christianity to the same bigots (of whom consist of only part of Christian thought today) who have oppressed homosexuals throughout the past 400 years and continue to do so? In 1617, James gave a daring address to the Privy Council, affirming his right to love men once and for all:

"I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man, like any other. Therefore I act like a man and confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George."

If one were to translate this address into modern English, it would roughly sound like, "This is who I am, this is who I love. Get over it."

Sources:

Bergeron, David M. King James & Letters of Homoerotic Desire. (p. 32-143).

Bingham, Carolyn. The Making of a King: The Early Years of James VI and I. (p. 129).

Harris, William. An Historical & Critical Account of the Life and Writings of James the First. (p. 73).

McElwee, WIlliam. The Wisest Fool in Christendom: The Reign of James I and VI. (p. 178).

Norton, Richtor. "Queen James and His Courtiers", The Great Queens of History, updated 8 January 200. (p. 129). http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/jamesi.htm

Stevenson, Joseph. The Correspondence of Robert Bowes, ed. (p. 185).

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