KINGS ASSASSIN

An absorbing account of the conspiracy to kill King James I by his handsome lover, the Duke of Buckingham, an historical crime that has remained hidden for 400 years.

The rise of George Villiers from minor gentry to royal power seemed to defy gravity. Becoming gentleman of the royal bedchamber in 1615, the young gallant enraptured James, Britain's first Stuart king, royal adoration reaching such an intensity that the king declared he wanted the courtier to become his 'wife'. For a decade, Villiers was at the king's side - at court, on state occasions, and in bed, right up to James's death in March 1625.

Almost immediately, Villiers' many enemies accused him of poisoning the king. A parliamentary investigation was launched, and scurrilous pamphlets and ballads circulated London's streets. But the charges came to nothing, and were relegated to a historical footnote.

Now, new historical scholarship suggests that a deadly combination of hubris and vulnerability did indeed drive Villiers to kill the man who made him. It may have been by accident - the application of a quack remedy while the king was weakened by a malarial attack. But there is compelling evidence that Villiers, overcome by ambition and frustrated by James's passive approach to government, poisoned him.
In The King's Assassin, acclaimed author Benjamin Wooley examines this remarkable, even tragic story. Combining vivid characterization and a strong narrative with historical scholarship and forensic investigation, Woolley tells the story of King James's death, and of the captivating figure at its center.

O relatare absorbanta a conspiratiei de a-l ucide pe regele Iacob I de catre frumosul sau iubit, ducele de Buckingham, o crima istorica care a ramas ascunsa de 400 de ani. Ascensiunea lui George Villiers de la nobilimea minora la puterea regala parea sa sfideze gravitatea. Devenit domn al camerei regale in 1615, tanarul galant l-a captivat pe James, primul rege Stuart al Marii Britanii, adoratia regala atingand o intensitate atat de mare incat regele a declarat ca doreste ca curteanul sa devina „sotia” sa.