Union of the Crowns Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the thrones of England and Ireland, and the consequential unification for some purposes (such as overseas diplomacy) of the three realms under a single monarch on 24 March 1603. The Union of Crowns followed the death of Elizabeth I of England, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, who was James's unmarried and childless first cousin twice removed. The Union was a personal or dynastic union, with the Crown of Scotland remaining both distinct and separate—despite James's best efforts to
Robert St Lawrence, 3rd Baron Howth a second and politically significant marriage to Joan Beaufort, daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Eleanor Beauchamp. Somerset's seemingly remote claim to the English Crown as the legal heir of John of Gaunt was vindicated by his cousin Margaret Beaufort's son Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. The St. Lawrence family, unlike most of the Anglo-Irish nobility, were reliable supporters of the Tudor dynasty: no doubt the family connection was valuable to them. He had six children: Some sources state that his second marriage was childless, however his eldest son Nicholas, who was born about 1460, must