Hello everyone and welcome to the History of England episode 327, Under New Management.

Now look I'm not going to lie to you all. There were some that were very nervous about

the arrival of their new monarch. After all, relations with Scotland hadn't always

been easy, but was not so long ago when Scotland and France had been closely allied, and

who knows if the French wouldn't stir up trouble, it's just the sort of thing they'd

do, alright? The war in Ireland was only just ending too.

However, the French ambassador wrote home that after James' proclamation as King unaccompanied

by explosions that the satisfaction was universal among Les Anglais. That was also true among

the Scots, despite the rooted and ancient hostility of the English to the Scots. Though said

ambassador, failed to mention the rooted and ancient hostility of the Scots towards the

English, which seems careless and slightly one-eyed of him.

So, relief, followed fear, but close on the heels, came expectation and hope, and hope as

you know is the most dangerous of emotions, particularly by an England football fan, where

for the sake of mental help, hope and expectation are to be immediately crushed beneath the booted

heel of realism.

The hotter type of Protestants knew about the Reformation Scotland and its better and closer

adherence to the Calvinist search for a godly society, and they hoped James would

overturn Elizabeth's very strange love of ceremonial and resistance to reform, and help

them further reforming the English Church just like the Scots had done.

Meanwhile, Catholics conscious that James' mother Mary had been a Catholic, they hoped

that James would bring toleration with him.

It is fair to say that James was thoroughly looking forward to being King of three kingdoms

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