First part:
[George
Villiers. Duke of] Buckingham made a very favourable impression upon everyone he
met, for his attractive appearance and ease of manner were combined with a genuine humility (as though he
was awed by his own good fortune) and
a desire to please. A portrait of Buckingham., painted in 1616, shows a tall,
slender young man, delicate-featured, with long tapering fingers and finely shaped legs. This impression is
confirmed by the account of the antiquarian Simonds D’Ewes, who watched
Buckingham talking to a group of French lords in 1621, and found ‘everything in
him full of delicacy and handsome features: yea, his hands and face seemed
to me especially effeminate and curious'.
Another eye-witness, Bishop Goodman, described Buckingham as ‘the
handsomest-bodied man of England: his limbs so well compacted and his conversation so pleasing and of so sweet a
disposition' …
Somerset [the royal favourite, Robert Carr, Earl of
Somerset] was still behaving in a manner calculated to anger rather than
conciliate the King. Driven by
suspicions, many of which
were justified, Carr sought constant reassurance as he struggled to break the hold of Villiers upon
the King's heart. But James, whose love for his old favourite was now clearly
fading, insisted that Somerset must acknowledge his faults and return to
a more respectful manner of behaviour. As far as James was concerned the situation was
quite clear. He would not abandon Villiers,
and if Somerset wished to retain his influence he must accept this fact
... the King was on his summer progress, visiting
one great country house after another.
On its return to London the royal procession passed through Hampshire,
and at the end of August 1615 the King paused for a few days at Farnham Castle. It was there that Buckingham plaved the
trump card which ensured his victory
over Somerset. The King - who celebrated his forty-ninth birthday in June 1615 - had long been starved of physical affection. His relations with his wife
were those of a friend, not a lover, and
as for Somerset, one of the faults which the King laid to his charge was, ‘your
long creeping back and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber.,
notwithstanding my many hundred times
earnestly soliciting you to the
contrary.’