By Alan Riach Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University Essay King James VI of Scotland, before he became James I of the abruptly United Kingdom in 1603 A new anthology of Scottish Latin poems centred on the reign of King James VI of Scotland, before he became James I of the abruptly United Kingdom in 1603, raises deep questions about that union, the centrality of the monarch and what “royalty” means. Alan Riach addresses them. Corona Borealis: Scottish Neo-Latin Poets on King James VI and his Reign, 1566–1603, edited by Steven J Reid and David McOmish (Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2020)