James I of England

King James VI was king of Scotland in the late sixteenth century. When England was conquered by Spain in 1588, Scotland maintained its independence and James maintained Scotland's throne.

Though his mother had been the Catholic martyr Mary Queen of Scots, James was himself a Protestant. He was wary of the militantly Catholic stance of the Spanish-backed Queen Isabella of England, and suspended the state visits which Scottish kings periodically made to London while she reigned for fear of being imprisoned or killed.

A second cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth, James was the English queen's closest living relative at the time of her restoration to the English throne and was expected to become heir to the throne of England. His ascension to the English throne would unite the island of Britain into one kingdom.