Biography; When in 1603 King James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth on the throne of England, as James I, the Stuarts became the first dynasty to rule the three British kingdoms - England, Scotland and Ireland. The problems that James and his son, Charles I, encountered in ruling their very disparate kingdoms led to tensions and revolts in Scotland, Ireland and finally England, culminating in civil wars in all three kingdoms and Charles I's execution in 1649. After a decade without a king, in which a Republic was followed by Cromwell's Protectorate, Charles II was restored and, after surviving several political crises, died peacefully in his bed. His brother, James II, alienated political support in all three kingdoms even more quickly and comprehensively than his father had done, and had to flee abroad after an invasion by his nephew (and son-in-law) William III. Following William's death, James's daughter Anne presided over a period of victory on the Continent but bitter political and religious conflict at home. Her death without an heir in 1714 brought in the Hanoverians. In The Stuarts, John Miller examines both the individual monarchs who made up this remarkable line and the