- Published: 25 November 2025
- ISBN: 9780241611272
- Imprint: Allen Lane
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 560
- RRP: $69.99
The Mirror of Great Britain
A Life of James VI & I

















- Published: 25 November 2025
- ISBN: 9780241611272
- Imprint: Allen Lane
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 560
- RRP: $69.99
James VI and I is arguably the most intriguingly complex of British monarchs: an accomplished poet, a passionate Protestant with a profound interest in witches and demons, a lover of young men and the patron of both Shakespeare and the great version of the Bible that still bears his name. He managed to rule Scotland for nearly six decades and England and Ireland for 22 years—which alone would make him a momentous figure. But he also did more than anyone else to forge the idea of Great Britain as a political entity and to give substance to its dreams of empire, not least in America. Clare Jackson's dazzling portrait of James plunges us not only into his extraordinary political career but into his mental universe, a ferment of ambitions, obsessions and desires from which much of the English-speaking world emerged. Splendidly erudite and wonderfully vivid in its detail and insights, The Mirror of Great Britain enriches our understanding both of James's times and of our own
Fintan O'Toole, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>We Don’t Know Ourselves</i>
In Clare Jackson’s luminous biography of James VI and I, this much misunderstood king speaks to us as the man he was rather than as the puppet of fortune. Beautifully written and supported by a treasure trove of new material, The Mirror of Great Britain is a profound meditation on the meaning of identity and the fragility of kingship
Amanda Foreman, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>The Duchess, Georgiana, and A World on Fire</i>
A fine, humanizing portrait of Great Britain's most misunderstood and maligned monarch. In this erudite and beautifully written biography, Clare Jackson brings the man who was both James VI of Scotland and James I of England to life for a new generation of readers
Ruth Scurr, author of <i>Napoleon: A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows