Upon James's accession as James I of England in 1603, Home accompanied his sovereign to Westminster, where he became
Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1603 to 1606. In 1603, he was also appointed to the
Privy Council of England, and on 1 June that year received a grant as
Keeper of the Great Wardrobe for life. In July the king asked the Chancellor
John Fortescue to move out of his house so Home could live there. The French ambassador the
Marquis de Rosny identified Erskine as an influential courtier, and gave him a
panache or feather jewel set with diamonds and featuring a fair ruby in the centre. On 7 July 1604, he was created
Baron Hume of Berwick in the
Peerage of England. In 1605 he was appointed a
Knight of the Garter, and, on 3 July, was created
Earl of Dunbar in the
Peerage of Scotland. There is evidence that he took a part in the interrogation of
Guy Fawkes in the immediate aftermath of the
Gunpowder Plot of 1605. King James granted him the patent for dying cloth with imported tropical
dyewoods. The use of these dyes was restricted due to concerns over quality. Dunbar paid £500 a year for the patent, and was able to issue licences to dyers. In 1607 a new process was thought to improve the quality, the restrictions were lifted, and the Earl was paid compensation. The Venetian ambassador
Nicolò Molin described Dunbar in unflattering terms in 1607. He wrote that Dunbar was a weak and ungrateful character who made few friends, and no one could understand why he received the king's favour. He thought that Dunbar contributed to the power held by the
Earl of Salisbury. In June 1608 Dunbar and the
Earl of Montgomery went in procession from London to
Windsor Castle for their investiture. The royal family watched the procession from
Cecil House on the
Strand. The Venetian ambassador
Zorzi Giustinian noted that the English courtiers were jealous of the honours awarded to Scots. Dunbar went hunting with the King at
Havering in 1608. In October 1609 Dunbar, who was on his way to Scotland, gave King James a book of advice and counsel that his mother Mary, Queen of Scots had written for him. The manuscript was found in the Earl of Gowrie's house in Perth.
Roger Aston reported that the king was "right glad of it".
Queen Elizabeth's jewels and clothes Home was made keeper of the royal great wardrobe on 1 June 1603, and he is particularly associated with dispersal of Queen Elizabeth's costume and jewellery.
John Chamberlain wrote that Elizabeth left, "a well stored jewel house and a rich wardrobe of more than 2000 gowns with all things else answerable". In June 1603,
Scaramelli, a Venetian diplomat, wrote that
Anne of Denmark had given away jewels, costume, and hangings to her ladies remaining in Scotland, and would find six thousand gowns in Elizabeth's wardrobe which were being adjusted for her. Anne would discard her Scottish identity for an English persona. As King James travelled south to London in April 1603 he ordered that some of Elizabeth's jewels, and a hairdresser
Blanche Swansted, should be sent to
Berwick-upon-Tweed so that Anne of Denmark would appear like an English queen as she crossed the border. James reiterated this request, explaining these jewels were to be selected by Elizabeth's household attendants for Anne's "ordinary apparelling and ornament". Anne may have been dressed in Elizabeth's clothes, the accounts reveal that her own gowns were altered and enlarged, perhaps to wear with larger
farthingales. However, according to the Venetian ambassador,
Antonio Foscarini, King James gave away the queen's wardrobe, richly embroidered with pearls and gold, to a Scottish lord (meaning George Home), and disposed of many of Elizabeth's jewels. Pietro
Contarini wrote a similar report or
relazione in 1618, that King James had given away her jewels on one day and a few days later given away her costume and household goods. James was said to given the jewels to members of his Scottish retinue or English noble courtiers. Records show that King James disposed of much of Queen Elizabeth's jewellery, either by selling it, having it remade, or exchanging it for new pieces. Several jewels were dismantled to provide gems for the circlet used at Anne of Denmark's English coronation. George Home was involved in examining the old queen's jewels which were brought to
Hampton Court at Christmas time 1603 by
Sir Thomas Knyvett. The King, Home,
Roger Aston and the
Earl of Nottingham selected pieces for disposal and sent them to the goldsmiths
John Spilman and
William Herrick, including a remarkable clock in the form of glass woman studded with rubies emeralds and pearls. Other pieces were sent to
Peter Vanlore in exchange for a new jewel including a large rectangular ruby and two lozenge diamonds. Spilman and Herrick also valued jewels that had been kept by
Mary Radcliffe for the queen's immediate use. Marginal notes added to an old inventory of Elizabeth's clothes and jewels indicate items that Sir George Home delivered for the king's use, including a diamond studded pelican and a jewel like a mount with six rows of diamonds. An inventory of 22 March 1605 mentions items in his keeping for the king's use, or recently returned to the Secret Jewelhouse of the
Tower of London, including, two sets of ten diamond buttons worn by King James, 29 other diamond buttons, and a gold feather jewel set with a large diamond and 25 other diamonds. King James from time to time asked Dunbar and Robert Cecil and the
Lord Treasurer to select jewels, apparently from the royal wardrobe or Jewel House, as gifts from him to Anne of Denmark. In July 1606 the earl's office of keeper of the wardrobe in Scotland was given to
Sir James Hay, then a gentleman of the king's bedchamber. Dunbar was receipted for jewels held in the
Tower of London and elsewhere, including; the ruby and chain from the (dismantled) pendant called the "
Great H of Scotland", a hat badge with the monogram "J.A.R" in diamonds with three pendant pearls, a gold ring with five diamonds and clasped hands called the "espousal ring of Denmark", a band for hat with 23 links including six pieces with letters made of diamonds, and a diamond cross, which had been brought from Scotland for their value and significance.
Sir Charles Stanhope recorded an anecdote that Dunbar had made £60,000 from sales of clothes from the wardrobe of
Queen Elizabeth I of England, and spent £20,000 on the house he built on the site of
Berwick Castle. A similar story was recorded by
Symonds D'Ewes on 21 January 1620, that King James had given the late queen's wardrobe to the Earl of Dunbar, who had exported it to the Low Countries and sold it for £100,000. Anne of Denmark retained a collection of the gowns and garments of previous queens of England, which was sold on her death in 1619. ==Landed interests==