Alexander Courtney is an English historian and teacher whose research and published works concern the reign of King James VI and I and the correspondence of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots.
Career Alexander Courtney studied history at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and gained a PhD in 2008 with a thesis titled Court politics and the kingship of James VI & I, c. 1615–c. 1622. Courtney has taught history at Tonbridge School, the Haberdashers' Boys' School at Elstree, and The Perse School in Cambridge.Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), p. xii.Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes, Doubtful and dangerous: The question of the succession in late Elizabethan England (Manchester, 2014), p. ix.
Courtney, Estelle Paranque, and Michael Questier, are preparing a publication, The Secret Correspondence of Mary Queen of Scots, which will explore the correspondence of Mary, Queen of Scots, and include the new texts discovered by the cryptoanalyst George Lasry and his colleagues Norbert Biermann, and Satoshi Tomokiyo.Alison Campsie, "Mary Queen of Scots: Decoded letters from captivity reveal a monarch unfiltered", The Scotsman, 9 October 2024Patrick Daly, "Lost letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, give up their secrets after 450 years", Northeastern Global News, 21 August 2024Perse teacher features in Mary, Queen of Scots TV documentary: Perse School, 16 October 2025Athena Stavrou, "Mary Queen of Scots’ political scheming revealed in decoded missing letters", Independent, 26 June 2025
Selected publications (ed. with Michael Questier), James VI and I: Kingship, Government and Religion (Routledge, 2025). James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024).Megan Shaw, "Review", Royal Studies Journal, 12:2 (2025), pp. 267–268 "The Secret Correspondence of James VI, 1601-3", in Susan Doran and Paulina Kewes, Doubtful and dangerous: The question of the succession in late Elizabethan England (Manchester, 2014).
References
External links Alexander Courtney, "Court politics and the kingship of James VI & I, c. 1615-c. 1622", University of Cambridge PhD thesis 2008 Interview with Alexander Courtney on James VI & I: Royal Studies Podcast, 7 March 2025