They said that she used witchcraft to make him love her.

They said she poisoned his best friend.

And just in this one case, the rumors might have been true.

In the glittering and dangerous world of James I's court,

a place dripping with perfume, jealousy, and ambition. A love affair between

Francis Howard and Robert Carr led to one of the most notorious scandals in English history.

It had everything, an annulment trial so scandalous it filled London's gossip sheets, a mysterious

death in the tower, and whispered talk of love

potions, poisons, and sorcery. Before we start unraveling it all, super quick thank you to my

patrons and YouTube members. You are the reason that I keep diving into stories like this one,

messy, human, and actually a little bit dark. Today, we are

leaving the tutors behind and stepping into the early Stewart world, where the king's favorite

fell in love with the wrong woman and a forbidden romance turned deadly. This is the story of

Francis Howard and Robert Carr, love, poison, and a little bit of witchcraft at the court of James I.

When James VI of Scotland became James I of England in 1603, he brought with him a court very different from Elizabeth's.

Gone were the days of lean, suspicious politics. James's court was lush,

theatrical, and full of favorites, men who caught the king's eye and sometimes his heart.

One of them was Robert Carr, a Scottish page who quite literally fell into fortune when he was thrown from his horse during a jowst.

The king, watching, rushed to his aid. James was enchanted. He paid for Carr's recovery,

taught him French and courtly manners, and promoted him faster than anyone thought possible.

By 1607, Carr was Viscount Rochester and then

the Earl of Somerset. He was young, handsome, and obelously unprepared for power. But James

...