Anne probably did not do most of the things she was accused of, but we’ll likely never know for sure. David McDonald, the chair of Glasgow Life, which runs the museums service, said: “Unsurprisingly, we are beyond delighted to discover the painting is by Rubens, an artist renowned globally as one of the most important painters in history.” The new earl was still on the rise, and as far as James was concerned, their love was as viable as ever, wife or no wife. But, as well as complimenting him on his looks, the Earl of Suffolk had also noted that Somerset was:

Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 106 Hon. Edward Ernest Villiers (23 March 1806 – 30 October 1843) was educated at Merton College, Oxford (where he was a president of the United Debating Society [19]) and Lincoln's Inn, and was later a Colonization Commissioner for South Australia. [20] He married Elizabeth Charlotte Liddell, daughter of Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, leaving a son and three daughters. Their daughter Edith Villiers married Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton and became Lady of the Bedchamber to both Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra. Suffer nor admit no noblemen of our realm or any others, of what condition soever they be of, to enter or come within our said Castle or to the presence or our said dearest son, with any more persons but two or three at most.’[ii] The context in which The Golden Age Restored was performed adds a greater impetus and motivation behind Villiers’ participation in the entertainment. George was not the king’s first favourite. His predecessor, Robert Carr, was a star on the wane when the king first laid eyes on Villiers. By the time The Golden Age Restored was performed, Carr’s days were increasingly numbered. Carr’s marriage to Lady Frances Howard was not looked kindly upon by his friend Thomas Overbury, who feared the union would drive a wedge between himself and the king’s favourite. When Overbury was found poisoned, by late 1615 suspicion had fell on Carr and his new wife.

Medieval misgovernment

To answer the question of why his love life mattered so much is simple on the face of it: these lovers were men. As historian Lady Antonia Fraser has noted, ‘the degree of their intimacy is less important than its political consequences’[i], because these men rose into positions of unequalled power. For modern historians, the emphasis should not be on their gender, but rather a discussion of their competency and the danger that they posed to the Kingdoms of Scotland and England. Surname Pronunciation: Vavasour to Woburn, Debrett's, archived from the original on 15 August 2011 , retrieved 9 October 2011 Firth, Charles H. (1899). Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 58 — Villiers, George (1628–1687). Smith, Elder & Co. p.25. By the second half of the twentieth centuries, the issue was discussed more openly though historians were still finding it impossible to shake off disapproving moralistic attitudes: the historian Donaldson wrote in 1971 that James's affair with Esme Stuart had "a physical, but not necessarily gross, side to it." (Donaldson is quoted in M. Young's 2012 account of the historiography in this area). [1] Some historians of this time advanced the surprising view that James's public displays of affection for his favourites were proof that there was not sexual activity in private. [6] Antonia Fraser's 1975 biography of the king takes an opposing and famously pragmatic view:

Norbrook, David (2000), Writing the English Republic: Poetry, Rhetoric and Politics, 1627–1660, Cambridge University Press, pp.23 ff, ISBN 978-0-521-78569-3 He took an active part in prosecuting those implicated in the "Popish Plot", and accused the lord chief justice (Sir William Scroggs) in his own court while on circuit of favouring the Roman Catholics. Because of this, a writ was issued for his arrest, but it was never served. He promoted the return of Whig candidates to Parliament, constituted himself the champion of the dissenters, and was admitted a Freeman of the City of London. He, however, separated himself from the Whigs on the exclusion question, probably on account of his dislike of the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Shaftesbury, was absent from the great debate in the Lords on 15 November 1680, and was restored to the king's favour in 1684. Crawfurd 1716, p. 92. "He was educated at the Court, and being of an agreeable and winning Deportment, he soon grew into his Majesty's special favour, attaining first the honour of knighthood, and e're long was made one of the Grooms of the Bed Chamber." sfn error: no target: CITEREFCrawfurd1716 ( help)

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

Fischlin, Daniel; Fortier, Mark (2002). Royal Subjects: Essays on the Writings of James VI and I. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p.175. ISBN 0814328776. George Villiers and Lady Katherine Manners (as Adonis and Venus – Image zoom)", David Koetser (in Dutch), archived from the original on 5 January 2017 , retrieved 13 April 2017

French, Allen. "The Siege of Ré, 1627.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research, vol. 28, no. 116, (1950), pp. 160–68. online

360° sculptures

In 1611 Villiers met Sir John Graham, a gentleman of the privy chamber, who acted as his mentor and promoter. He arranged for Villiers to be introduced to King James I who took an immediate liking to Villiers. Throughout his reign he associated with attractive young men and according to Maurice Ashley he had developed homosexual feelings in his youth. (2) Following Villiers' introduction to James during the king's progress of that year, the king developed a strong affection for Villiers, calling him his 'sweet child and wife'; the personal relationships of James are a much debated topic, with Villiers making the last of a succession of favourites on whom James lavished affection and rewards. The extent to which there was a sexual element, or a physical sexual relationship, involved in these cases remains controversial. Villiers reciprocated the king's love and wrote to James: "I naturally so love your person, and adore all your other parts, which are more than ever one man had" and "I desire only to live in the world for your sake". Villiers gained support from those opposed to the current favourite, Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset. However, restoration of Apethorpe Hall, undertaken 2004-2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and his favourite, George Villiers. The portrait is a study for a larger painting. “It’s just a sketch, but in the 18th and 19th century, unfinished work wasn’t as appreciated as it is today, so you get a lot of pictures which are finished off by later artists. So this was tidied up by someone and as a result, it began to look very stiff and more like a copy,” he said. Lorenzo Magalotti at the Court of Charles II, translated by Middleton, W.E. Knowles, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1980, pp.47–48 a b James singled out sodomy in a letter to Lord Burleigh giving directives that judges were to interpret the law broadly and were not to issue any pardons, saying that "no more colour may be left to judges to work upon their wits in that point." Sharpe, Kevin M. (2000). Remapping Early Modern England: The Culture of Seventeenth-century England. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-66409-8.