James VI

But the most notorious royal witch-hunter of all time was James VI of Scotland, who went on to become James I of England.

At the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, two gold coins from the James VI era, along with a Mary, Queen of Scots gold three pound piece dating from 1555, were stolen in 2015.

Historically an independent country, Scotland was first linked to England in 1603 after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Because the queen had no children, the crown passed to her cousin James VI who was already king of Scotland, uniting the two countries under a shared sovereign.

In 1567 the Honours of Scotland were used at Stirling to crown James VI, and, following his consolidation of the Scottish and English monarchies in the 1603 Union of the Crowns, at the coronation of his son, the ill-fated Charles I at Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse in 1633.

In 1603, following the death of Elizabeth I, James VI of Scotland succeeded her, becoming James I of England.