THE STOLEN CROWN

Detailing a watershed moment in English history.

The Tudor family’s reign in England lasted 118 years and saw five monarchs on the throne. When the last Tudor, Elizabeth I, died in 1603 without a direct heir, the Brits turned to James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, uniting the kingdoms and beginning a new dynasty with the Stuarts. Those are the historical facts. In her latest history, Borman tells the fascinating story of palace intrigue, forgery, and other shenanigans behind those facts. After decades of waiting for Elizabeth to name her successor, and hundreds of letters between Elizabeth and James dancing around the issue, there was still no clear claim to the throne as Elizabeth lay dying. Council members reported that on her deathbed Elizabeth named James as her successor, quoting her as saying, “I’ll have none but him.” But James’ hold on the throne was tenuous. His grandmother, Margaret, Henry VIII’s sister, and her descendants were specifically excluded from the throne under Henry’s will. James desperately wanted validation, not only for himself but for his son to succeed him. That validation came from historian William Camden’s well-known biography of Elizabeth, which includes the story of the succession choice. New technology examining Camden’s handwritten manuscript shows that key passages were pasted over and rewritten. “Elizabeth’s last-gasp naming of James as her heir was a work of fiction,” Borman writes. The manuscript was published in 1615 in Latin, suggesting that it was aimed at a limited audience, and the English language version was not published until 10 years later, two years after Camden’s death, blurring the extent of his complicity in the treachery and deceit.

An entertaining and highly readable story of a falsehood that has lasted 400 years.