Who were the gay kings and queens of England?
by David Bianco, author of Gay Essentials (Alyson
Publications), a collection of his history columns.
There have been many "queens" in British history and culture -- but
there have
also been several British monarchs whose lives gay historians now read
as
queer.
Both Renaissance playwright Christopher Marlowe and 20th-century
filmmaker
Derek Jarman produced works that explored the queerness of King Edward
II,
who was born in 1284.
He had a favorite, Piers Gaveston, a knight from France who came to
court
while Edward was still Prince of Wales. The two young men became so
close
that Edward's father expelled the Frenchman from court. But when Edward
assumed the throne in 1307, he brought Gaveston back as his trusted
adviser.
As king, Edward relied on Gaveston more heavily than he did on British
advisers, angering many nobles. In 1312, a group of them kidnapped
Gaveston,
beheaded him, and ran a sword through his body. Though Edward ruled
another
15 years, he was eventually deposed by Parliament and also brutally
murdered.
Over two centuries later, in 1566, Mary, Queen of Scots gave birth to
her
only child, James. When Protestant Scottish lords forced the Roman
Catholic
Mary from the throne, James succeeded her as king of Scotland at the age
of
13 months. In 1603, when Queen Elizabeth I died childless, he became
king of
England, too, as James I. He later gave his name to the translation of
the
Bible that we know as the "King James Version."
Though he married and fathered seven children, James' deepest affections
were reserved for a succession of male favorites. The first was Esme
Stuart,
a cousin, who captured the teenage king's heart in 1579. James gave
Stuart,
who was in his thirties, money, land, and a series of impressive titles,
including Duke of Lennox.
The duke was viewed by Elizabeth and by many Scottish lords with
suspicion
because he was both French and Catholic. In 1582, a group of powerful
nobles
forced the 16-year-old James to dismiss Lennox, which he did. But
throughout
his reign, the king continued to find favorites on whom to lavish titles
and
privilege.
One of these was the handsome George Villiers, who came to court at the
age
of 23 in 1614. Created the Duke of Buckingham, Villiers held a series of
powerful posts, including "Gentleman of the Bedchamber," which required
his
close attendance on James. He was eventually expelled from office by
Parliament after James's death in 1625.
Queens, too, had their favorites. Anne, the great-granddaughter of James
I,
was born in 1665. She and her older sister Mary, who were Protestant,
acquiesced in the deposing of their Catholic father, James II, in the
"Glorious Revolution" of 1688.
From childhood, Anne had a passionate friendship with Sarah Jennings.
Despite
the fact that both young women married -- Anne to Prince George of
Denmark,
with whom she had 17 children, and Sarah to John Churchill, a forebear
of
Winston -- Anne displayed a fierce devotion to Sarah that bordered on
obsession.
During Mary's reign, John Churchill was accused of treason and he and
Sarah
were expelled from court, despite Anne's feverish protests to her
sister:
"There is no misery that I cannot readily resolve to suffer rather than
the
thoughts of parting with [Sarah]." When Anne succeeded Mary to the
throne in
1702, she quickly brought the Churchills back from exile as her
advisers,
making them the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough.
All three of these monarchs lived long before there was a conscious gay
identity. But their passionate devotion to favorites of their own gender
makes them stand out as queer ancestors.
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