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From the age of thirteen until his death, the life of King James VI of Scotland and I of England (1566–1625) was characterised by close relationships with a series of male favourites. The influence James' favourites had on politics, and the resentment at the wealth they acquired, became major political issues during his reign. The extent to which the King's relationships with the men were sexual was a topic of bawdy contemporary speculation. James VI and I certainly enjoyed the company of handsome young men, sometimes shared his bed with his favourites and was often passionate in his expressions of love for them. James was married to Anne of Denmark, with whom he fathered eight children. He railed fiercely against sodomy.: 1073  Most historians and commentators today affirm that, given the evidence, James's relationships with some or all of his favourites clearly were sexual.: 16  Others regard the evidence as more ambiguous, and needing to be understood in terms of 17th century forms of masculinity which were very different to today's. The question of James' sexuality might be considered of only prurient interest, and certainly less important than the political consequences of the power and status he granted his favourites. However, particularly since the late 20th century, historical analysis and commentary on James's personal life has raised important questions about how early modern same-sex relationships (whether sexual or friendship-based) were structured and understood, and the extent to which modern categories of sexuality can be applied to historical figures. Views on James' sexual behaviour Views of modern historians Until the late 20th century, historians' accounts were often biased by prevailing negative social attitudes towards same-sex relationships. Historians could not avoid the obvious fact that James was attracted to men. Some would refer - usually obliquely and certainly judgmentally - to possible sexual interactions with his favourites.: 546–547  Moral condemnation by historians of James's homoerotic attraction was often part of a wider characterisation of him as a bad or weak king.: 1055  From the 1980s positive reassessments of James's reign coincided with growing public acceptance of homosexuality. The issue of James' sexuality began to be separated from questions about his character, judgement and reign. By the late 20th century the consensus was to see the relationships between James and his favourites as sexual.: 542, 546–547  However, in the 1990s a counter - or at least problematising - view arose, with some academics arguing that many of the key points of evidence cited in favour of the relationships being sexual, such as James sharing a bed or exchanging kisses with his favourites, were behaviours that in James' time were widely seen as public tokens of friendship.: 542, 549ff., 556ff.  Summarising the views of more recent historians,: 16  social historian Emma Dabiri stated in 2017 that now few historians and biographers doubt that James was "either gay or bisexual". John Matusiak's 2015 biography James I: Scotland's King of England views James as "homosexual", although is unsure about the "precise extent of the king's sexual involvement with Lennox". Keith Coleman's 2023 biography James VI and I: The King Who United Scotland and England see James's relationships with Somerset and Buckingham as sexual, adding that his relationship with Lennox probably also was. Steven Veerapen, author of 2023's The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I, also views James's relationships with his favourites as sexual, describing the king as, in modern terms, bisexual, with a "strong preference for men".: 130  Along with most recent historians, Gareth Russell's opinion is that "James and Villiers were indeed passionate lovers". Benjamin Woolley, biographer of Villiers, says the language the King and duke used with each other in their letters "clearly shows a very deep, complex, probably sexual relationship between them". Reviewing James's letters and poems and focusing on desire rather than actions, David M. Bergeron see James's relationships with Lennox, Somerset and Buckingham comprising a "special intimacy, including, but not restricted to, homoerotic desire",: vii–viii  with James's letters to his male favourites as "signs of erotic desire [and] same-sex love".: 30  Contemporary accounts I discussed with [my friend things] that were secret as of the sin of sodomy, how frequent it was in this wicked city, and if God did not provide some wonderful blessing against it, we could not but expect some horrible punishment for it; especially it being as we had probable cause to fear, a sin in the prince. It was generally believed by James's contemporaries that his relationships with his favourites were sexual: 83  and "[t]he impression that James and his favorites were engaged in sex was widespread".: 543  "Gossip and concerns over deviant sexuality" was not new (similar denouncements were made of Queen Elizabeth I's favourites) but, according to Cezara Bobeica, "Under James, the novelty was the exponential increase of such accusations of sodomy".: 28  Commentary on James's "erotic interactions with his faviourites" were not always speculative but, rather, as Michael B. Young notes, was based on observation of James "hugging, falling upon the necks of, and kissing his favourites in public." Contemporaries observed James's interactions with his favourites and commented on them in their journals, letters and reports.: 542  For instance, commenting generally, Albert Fontenay wrote that James's "love for favourites is indiscreet and wilful"; and John Hacket wrote that James would, from his mid-teens, "clasp someone ... in the Embraces of his great Love", and that this began first with Esmé Stewart. Commenting on James's public affection towards Stewart, Sir Henry Widdrington recorded that James "can hardly suffer him out of his presence, and is in such love with him, as in the open sight of the people, oftentimes he will clasp him about the neck with his arms and kiss him".: 39  Others commented that James was "carried away" by, or in the "possession" of, Stewart.: 39  David Moysie wrote in his memoirs that James, "having conceived an inward affection to [Stewart], entered in great familiarity and quiet purposes with him" (David Harris Willson notes that "great familiarity and quiet purposes" bears a "special connotation in the Scots idiom of the time" to sexual interactions: 36 ).: 543  Similarly, Thomas Fowler reported that James "kissed [the Earl of Huntly] at times to the amazement of many", adding that "It is thought this King is too much carried by young men that lie in his chamber and are his minions".: 42  Concerning James and Robert Carr's interations, Thomas Howard reported that James "leans on [Carr's] arm, touches his cheeks, smooths his ruffled garment".: 543  Of James and his favourites - and especially George Villiers - the diarist.... 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