First Cousins: James I, King of England/James VI, King of Scots

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

James I, King of England/James VI, King of Scots (1566 – 1625)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

James was born in Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the only child of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband and first cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, both grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and sister of King Henry VIII of England. James’ paternal grandparents were Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas, the only child of Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. James’ maternal grandparents were James V, King of Scots, son of Margaret Tudor and her first husband James IV, King of Scots, and his second wife Marie of Guise, the eldest daughter Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, head of the House of Guise, and his wife Antoinette de Bourbon.

Before James’ first birthday, his father was murdered by an explosion and his mother was forced to abdicate in James’ favor. Mary was forced to flee to England, where she was subsequently imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I of England. She remained imprisoned for 21 years, until she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and beheaded. James married Anne of Denmark, the eldest daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. James and Anne had seven children, but only three survived childhood including King Charles I and Elizabeth Stuart who was the grandmother of the first Hanover king, King George I.

Since none of the children of King Henry VIII of England had children, James was the senior heir of King Henry VII of England through his eldest daughter Margaret Tudor. On her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth I gave her assent that James should succeed her. Upon the death of Elizabeth I, James was King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England. During James’ reign, the Golden Age of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon and English colonization started in North American with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Several years after he became King of England, James ordered his beheaded mother’s remains exhumed from Peterborough Cathedral and reburied in Westminster Abbey. He built a beautiful marble tomb with an effigy in a chapel directly opposite the chapel where the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I is located.

James I had no maternal first cousins because all his maternal uncles died young and he had no maternal aunts.  He had only one first cousin, the daughter of his father’s brother and she has an interesting story (below).

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Paternal Uncle of King James I: Children of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas

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Maternal Uncles of King James I: Children of James V, King of Scots and his second wife Marie of Guise

  • James, Duke of Rothesay (1540 – 1541), died in infancy
  • Arthur, Duke of Albany (born and died April 1541), died in infancy

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Maternal Half Uncles of King James I: Children of Marie of Guise and her first husband Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville

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Paternal First Cousin: Child of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish

Lady Arbella Stuart (1575 – 1615)

Lady Arbella Stuart was the only child of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish. Her paternal grandparents were Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas, the only child of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland. Arbella’s maternal grandparents were Elizabeth Hardwick, known as Bess of Hardwick, and Sir William Cavendish, the second of Bess’ four husbands. Arbella’s paternal uncle was Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the second of the three husbands of Mary, Queen of Scots. Like her husband, Mary, Queen of Scots was also a grandchild of Margaret Tudor.

Arbella was born in either Nottinghamshire or Hackney, both in England. By the time of her birth, her eight-year-old first cousin James VI, King of Scots had been King of Scots for seven years. In England, Queen Elizabeth I sat upon the throne. Both Arbella and James VI were Elizabeth I’s first cousins twice removed. Since none of the children of King Henry VIII of England had children, the line of Henry VII’s eldest daughter Margaret Tudor was the senior line and Arbella and James VI were both considered as possible heirs to the English throne. Some considered that Arbella had the stronger claim because she had been born in England. On her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth I gave her assent that James should succeed her.

Because Arbella was high up in the line of succession, she had a number of marriage prospects but they all came to naught.  In 1610, King James I heard rumors that Arbella was planning to marry William Seymour, then known as Lord Beauchamp, later 2nd Duke of Somerset. At that time, the rules of primogeniture placed Arbella fourth in the line of succession after James’ three surviving children and placed William Seymour sixth in the line of succession.

William was a descendant of Mary Tudor, King Henry VII’s younger surviving daughter. (Henry VII → Mary Tudor → Frances Brandon → Lady Catherine Grey → Edward Seymour → William Seymour). King James I saw a marriage between two potential Tudor pretenders to the throne as a threat to the fledgling English Stuart dynasty. Nevertheless, Arbella and William married in secret, without the permission of the king. When King James found out about the marriage, he ordered that Arbella be held in the custody of William James, Bishop of Durham and William to be imprisoned in the Tower of London for life.

In June 1611, William escaped from the Tower. He planned to meet Arbella, who also had escaped her captivity, and flee to Flanders, now in Belgium. However, bad weather and other circumstances prevented their meeting. Arbella was recaptured and taken to the Tower of London. William safely reached Flanders and was never reunited with Arbella.

Arabella was kept in confinement in the Tower but was never charged with a crime. Her health deteriorated and she hoped, to no avail, that her cousin James would release her. Eventually, Arbella gave up hope that she would be released. Refusing both medical attention and food, she died at the age of 39.

King James I refused to give his cousin Arbella a funeral and she was buried without ceremony in the vault of her aunt by marriage and first cousin once removed Mary, Queen of Scots in Westminster Abbey. In the 19th century, during a search for the tomb of King James I, Arbella’s coffin was found in the vault of Mary, Queen of Scots directly on top of Mary’s coffin.

William Seymour

As for William Seymour, he eventually returned to England, was elected a Member of Parliament and became a member of the House of Lords when he succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Hereford. He was a Royalist commander during the English Civil War. When the monarchy was restored, his service to the Royalist cause was recognized by King Charles II. All William’s former positions were restored including his great-grandfather’s Dukedom of Somerset, which had been forfeited in 1552 when Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI, had been executed. William became the 2nd Duke of Somerset.

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Works Cited

    • Lundy, D. (2019). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
    • Unofficial Royalty. (2019). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
    • Wikipedia. (2019). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)