Disease, disaster and disability plagued the Stuart Family during the period they ruled England - 1603 to 1714. Dementia in James I, the beheading of Charles I, acute mercury poisoning in Charles II, a nosebleed in James II, acute hemorrhagic smallpox in Mary II, and lupus erythematosus in Queen Anne took them 'off the throne', one by one. Frederick Holmes, M.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the University of Kansas Medical Center, has carefully documented the medical problems of this unfortunate family in The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty.