Four centuries ago, a shocking death in the Tower of London became a national sensation. It was a story of a brilliant lawyer, a lovesick royal favourite, a scorned noblewoman, and a plot so intricate and scandalous it threatened to topple the monarchy. The details were whispered in the streets, debated by foreign ambassadors, and devoured by a public fascinated by true crime. This was the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury. In this special episode of the Tudor True Crime mini-series on History Hit’s podcast, Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb steps into the shadows to uncover the truth. Joined by Professor Alastair Bellany, an expert on the Jacobean court, she investigates not just who killed Overbury, but why this singular act of murder exposed a web of intrigue and corruption that compromised the Stuart throne. Subscribe to Not Just The Tudors A fatal friendship Thomas Overbury was an ambitious lawyer, poet, and man on the make. His rise to power wasn’t a result of high birth, but from his friendship with a young Scottish courtier named Robert Carr, who he met in the early 1600s. By 1607, Carr had become the most favoured man in King James I’s court, and through Carr, Overbury suddenly had access to unimaginable power and influence, becoming the silent hand behind the throne. But in 1611, this powerful friendship soured when Carr began a passionate affair with the married Frances Howard, the Countess of Essex. Overbury, fearing this new alliance would jeopardise his own political standing, voiced his opposition. By doing so, he insulted the Countess, alienated his best friend, and, in a series of unwise moves, earned the displeasure of the king. King James I, weary of Overbury’s influence and arrogance, offered him an ambassadorship – a seemingly generous offer that was, in reality, a gilded cage designed to remove him from court. When Overbury refused, the king was outraged, and in April 1613, he ordered his former favourite’s imprisonment in the Tower of London. Overbury assumed his stay would be brief, that his friend Carr would secure his release. But Carr and Frances had other plans – they were plotting to remove the “Overbury problem” permanently. Left: Portrait of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. Right: Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset Death, conspiracy, and a cover-up On 14 September 1613, Thomas Overbury died in the Tower of London, just months after his imprisonment. Initially, his death was seen as unremarkable, a tragic but unlamented end for a man with many enemies. Rumours spread that he had died of disease, and his body was buried and forgotten. A year later, Robert Carr, now elevated to the Earl of Somerset, married the newly divorced Frances Howard in a lavish ceremony. The couple, with their powerful Howard family allies, seemed to have won. But their victory was short-lived. A new favourite had caught the king’s eye – George Villiers. As the political tides began to turn against Carr, a stunning revelation emerged: the Lieutenant of the Tower confessed he’d been told of a plot to murder Overbury. Suddenly, a forgotten death became the centrepiece of a sensational murder investigation. As Professor Alastair Bellany explains, the king’s judges soon uncovered a plot of stunning proportions, finding that Frances Howard had arranged for an array of poisoned sweets and other goods to be smuggled into the Tower. The less powerful conspirators were tried and executed, but the main protagonists – Frances Howard and Robert Carr – were mysteriously pardoned by the king after they were convicted. (Frances Howard had admitted a part in Overbury’s murder, but her husband had not.) This verdict infuriated many, raising suspicions of a deeper cover-up. The Stuart monarchy on trial In the podcast, Alastair describes how the scandal surrounding the Overbury affair became a media sensation, with an underground system of handwritten letters and libellous poems circulating gossip and raising damning questions about the king himself.  The scandal became a battle of competing narratives. As Alastair explains, the official line from the king was one of royal justice, portraying James I as a righteous monarch who bravely unearthed a heinous plot and punished the guilty. However, the underground media painted a different picture, portraying the aristocrats involved in the scandal as depraved and corrupt. The scandal’s deepest secret was the implicit question it asked: how could such a corrupt individual as Carr rise to immense power? The answer, many whispered, was a scandalous relationship with the king himself. Left: King James I. Right: George Villiers – one of the king’s ‘favourites’ along with Robert Carr.Image Credit: Left: Portrait by John de Critz (1551–1642); Right: Portrait by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). Both: Public Domain The Overbury affair eroded the image of James as a wise, moral monarch. The decision to spare the aristocratic murderers compromised the king’s carefully constructed narrative, leaving the public to wonder if he was a righteous arbiter of justice or a compromised accomplice. The Overbury Affair also exposed deep political contradictions within the court and was the first major case in which a “Popish plot” to undermine the Stuart dynasty was centred inside the royal court. A widespread conspiracy theory, dubbed ‘The Powder Poison’, circulated, claiming Overbury’s death was part of a larger Catholic plot to poison the entire royal family.  This rumour, however over-the-top, was believed by many because of the Catholic connections of Frances Howard’s family. The ease with which such a plot could be imagined inside the king’s own court was politically explosive, and set a dangerous precedent for the decades to come, as anxiety about Catholic infiltration of the court continued to grow, a political dynamic that would later contribute to the English Civil War. Join Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and Professor Alastair Bellany as they unravel one of Tudor history’s most sensational true crime cases. Listen to the latest episode of Not Just the Tudors. Subscribe to Not Just The Tudors