They defied the religious, homophobic times in which they lived and many paid dearly for it.
They may have worn crowns and wielded power, but at the end of the day, they were human too. Here are their stories. (Part 2)
James I
When Queen Elizabeth I died childless, her closest relative was James, the son of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, whom Elizabeth had had beheaded.
Mary had been imprisoned since James was one. He didn't really remember her, so no need to let that get in the way of him making nice with Elizabeth and being made her heir.
After centuries of English kings trying to beat Scotland into submission, the two kingdoms were finally united under James VI of Scotland, now James I of England and Scotland.
James' sexual preferences were apparent from an early age. At 13, he fell for his 37 year old cousin, Esmé Stuart, whom he later made Duke of Lennox.
An observer said James was in such love with him that, in the open sight of the people, often he would clasp him about the neck with his arms and kiss him.
James had been King of Scotland since the age of one. and when he inherited the throne of England, at 36, he was used to Scottish rule, where the king was above the law. In England, he bristled with the growing urban middle class who didn't want an absolute monarch.
James also hated that, in England, he had to get permission from Parliament to collect taxes, permission they rarely granted.
Famous Elizabethan, Sir Walter Raleigh, was involved in a plot to remove King James. Raleigh was found guilty of treason and beheaded.
During James's reign, the British began to colonise what is, now, Canada and the United States. The colony of Jamestown, in Virginia, was named after him.
Perhaps James’ most lasting contribution was the printing of the King James Bible, one of the first written in English. The translation had a lasting effect on the Protestant religion and is still very popular today, but James still had plenty of problems to deal with when it came to religion.
The fuse that Henry VIII had lit when he established the Protestant Church of England continued to burn. There was nearly a massive explosion when a group of Catholic conspirators, led by Guy Fawkes, smuggled barrels of gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament in an attempt to blow up King James and all the MPs (Members of Parliament).
The Gunpowder plot was foiled, and this act of attempted terrorism is still remembered each year on the 5th of November with fireworks and bonfires on which Guy Fawkes is burned in effigy.
James had a passionate relationship with his wife, Anne of Denmark, by whom he fathered eight children. He had affairs with other women as well, but that was expected of a king.
It was his male favourites that caused controversy. He was flamboyantly bisexual and had several male lovers, whom he appointed to powerful core positions that were above their abilities.
Favourite Robert Car was convicted of poisoning a court rival. James pardoned him, causing outrage.
The King had a secret passageway built linking his bedroom to that of another favourite, George Villiers, whom he appointed Duke of Buckingham and Lord Admiral.
Villliers was an incompetent leader and Parliament twice attempted to Impeach him but they were blocked by the king.
After James died and Villiers no longer had royal protection, he was stabbed to death by a disgruntled army officer.
While the king was alive, the word in London was that Elizabeth had been a King, and now they had a Queen. Those in the growing, and extremely conservative Puritan sect of Protestantism did not approve.
In fact, James was a hypocrite. He insisted on harsh punishments for sodomy among his people.
James died at 58 after a 21 year reign. His tomb in Westminster Abbey is flanked by two of his lovers, George Villiers and Esmé Stuart.
William III
After a century of squabble over the throne between Protestants and Catholics, the Protestant majority was saddled with a dreaded Catholic, King James II.
Parliament wouldn't stand for it, so they invited the Protestant William and Mary to peacefully invade the country and oppose James.
William was the Prince of Orange and ruled the Dutch. His mother, Mary Stuart was the daughter of King Charles I. His wife Mary was the daughter of the current king, (James II) and had a better claim to the throne, but she insisted that her husband be her co-ruler. This suited William Fine as he was not a man to play second fiddle to his wife.
Because they were ruling at the Parliament’s invitation, Parliament finally got to call the shots. No standing army. No raising taxes, no going to war without Parliament's permission, and Parliament got to decide who was monarch.
It was called the Glorious Revolution because royal power was redefined, free of bloodshed.
King James II made a bid to regain the crown from his daughter and son-in-law by raising Catholic troops in Ireland. But his forces were defeated at the Battle of the Boyne.
William's victory there made him a hero to the Irish Protestants who dubbed him "King Billy". The orange portion of the Irish flag honours him.
William was more interested in his lands in the Netherlands and spent much of his time there, so Mary did most of the ruling in England.
Five years into their joint reign, Mary died of smallpox at 32. William Deeply mourned his wife's passing, but the pair hadn't had any children and after her death, rumours of William's homosexuality began to spread.
He is believed to have had affairs with two Dutch courtiers, Hans Wilhelm Bentinck, and Arnold Joost van Keppel, to whom he gave English lands and titles.
Kapeel, who was twenty years the Kings Junior, raised particular ire among the English nobility as he was promoted from page to Earl at lightning speed.
The next in line to the throne, Queen Mary's sister Anne, had no fear that William would marry and produce an heir. She said “his heart be not for women and has been taken by a nobleman”.
Anne
Like her sister (Mary), Anne was married to a Protestant, Prince George of Denmark. He was an indolent alcoholic, and she had no interest in sharing power with him.
Anne was the first married Queen to rule on her own. She revelled in the ceremony and majesty of monarchy.
In 1707, Parliament passed the Acts of Union which finally made England and Scotland a single sovereign state called Great Britain. All monarchs from this point on would be known as British rather than English. A combination of the two countries' flags, called the Union Jack, became widely used.
As several kings before her had male favourites, Anne had female favourites. The most significant was Sarah Churchill, ancestor of the World War II Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
Sarah's husband was a top military commander, and Sarah's close relationship with the Queen made her the second most powerful woman in the country.
Sarah was beautiful and charming, while Anne was plain sickly and shy. Sarah often used her influence to her advantage, and wasn't afraid to disagree with the Queen.
The couple were politically opposed. Sarah supported the progressive Wigs, and Queen Anne the religious and conservative Tories.
Anne grew tired of Sarah's political lectures and attempts to influence policy, particularly, in prolonging the war on the continent, led by Sarah's husband.
Eventually, Anne transferred her affections to another lady in waiting, Abigail Marshall, who was young and demure, quite the opposite of Sarah. In the midst of this new relationship, Anne banished her first love from court.
Queen Anne must have spent some time with her husband because she had 17 pregnancies. Tragically, most ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. It is believed by medical historians that Anne’s numerous pregnancy losses were due to her having Hughes Syndrome, which causes the blood to be sticky and thick.
This would explain many of Anne's health problems, which confined her to a wheelchair later in life. Sticky blood has a hard time travelling through the veins of an adult, but it is near impossible for it to travel through the tiny veins of the foetus.
A now commonplace medication, aspirin, would have thinned Anne's blood and saved her babies' lives. Anne’s one great hope, her son, Prince William, died at the age of 11 of smallpox.
With no clear heir to take the throne after Anne, it was important that Parliament decided who the next monarch would be. So they passed the Acts of Settlement, which laid down the rules by which the British line of succession is still decided today.
The rules were: no Catholic will ever again sit on the throne. Only legitimate children are eligible. Spouses of the monarch are not eligible, and male primogenitor sons would outrank daughters in the succession.
Anne’s closest Protestant relative was Sophia of Hanover who, despite being in her 80s, was determined to outlive the sickly 49 year old Anne and take the throne.
She almost succeeded, but a letter from Anne accusing her of plotting to take the throne so shocked her that she died two months before Anne.
The crown went to Sophia's son, George, and a new German dynasty stepped onto the British stage.
It is tragic that these rulers, and many more common people, faced discrimination and violence for who they loved. Hopefully any future LGBTQ monarchs or members of the royal family will be met with acceptance in more enlightened times.
Transcript of “LGBTQ Kings & Queen of England” by History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday
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