The Queen's Lender
by Jean Findlay
George Heriot, jeweller to King James VI, moves with the Court from Edinburgh to London to take over the English throne. It is 1603. Life is a Babel of languages and glittering new wealth. James gives Shakespeare his first secure position. To calm the perfidious religious tensions in the country, he commissions his translation of the Bible. He creates the Union Jack, called after himself. George becomes wealthier than the king as he sets a fashion for hat jewels and mingles with Drummond of Hawthornden, Ben Johnson, Inigo Jones and the mysterious ambassador Luca Von Modrich. However, both king and courtier bow before the phenomenal power invested in their wives.