The King‘s Assassin

The remarkable rise of George Villiers seemed to defy gravity. The handsome young courtier enraptured James I, who even declared he wanted Villiers 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. But the charges came to nothing, and were relegated to a historical footnote. Now, based on new historical scholarship and forensic investigation, Benjamin Woolley examines whether or not a deadly combination of hubris and vulnerability did indeed drive Villiers to become the king‘s assassin. The result is a compelling portrait of a royal favourite whose charisma overwhelmed not only those around him but, ultimately, himself. ‘Well paced . . . colourful and fun‘ The Times ‘Utterly gripping . . . I devoured it‘ Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Queen‘s Gambit and The Girl in the Tower