Mary Queen of Scots was the beheaded on the orders of her cousin Queen Elizabeth 1st. of England. Mary’s life was one of unfortunate decisions and bad luck. It seems she was ill suited to be a monarch. Many people tried to influence her; some towards England and some towards France, and she lived in the time of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland (1560). Being a catholic she tried to placate the Protestants who were led by John Knox, but it didn‘t always work out. Knox was a very determined man with solid unwavering belief in his cause.
She was born at Linlithgow Palace in 1542. When she was but six days old her father James V died without leaving a male heir to the throne of Scotland. Mary’s French mother, Mary of Guise became Regent and sent young Mary to France at the age of 5 in 1548. In 1558 she married Dauphin Francis. The next year her husband became King of France (King Francis II) after his father died. However, his reign lasted only a year and in December 1560 he died after only 17 months on the French throne. Young Mary was 18 years old and returned to Scotland rather than live under the domination of her Mother-in-law Catherine De Medicis. Upon her return to Scotland the men of influence tried to figuratively get their hands on her and persuade her. She may have been naïve or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. She held on to her Catholicism under pressure from The Protestant Church and John Knox and she was matched with Lord Darnley in 1565, a young hopeless alcoholic, also her cousin. This marriage didn’t go well. Mary wouldn’t allow Darnley to succeed her if she died and she turned her attentions to her close Italian friend David Rizzo. Some of the Protestant nobles were suspicious of Rizzo and he was assassinated at Holyrood Palace. Mary witnessed the murder. She was six months pregnant at the time. On the 19th. June 1566, at Edinburgh Castle, she gave birth to James who went on to be James the 1st. of Great Britain and Ireland. This impending birth would also rob Darnley of the chance to become King.
There are yet more twists and turns to the story of Mary Queen of Scots which continue to fascinate historians to this very day: In 1830 there was a bad fire in the Royal Apartments of Edinburgh Castle where King James was born. A small coffin was discovered inside the wall. The bones were not specifically identified. Some say that King James was always unsure of legitimacy as he looked nothing like any of previous Stuart Kings of Scotland. Who knows…….?
Mary befriended the Earl of Bothwell, an enemy of Darnley and his pals. Then Darnley was taken out the picture. He was killed by an explosion at Kirk o’ Fields in 1567. Bothwell was implicated but his trial came to nought. He obtained a divorce from his wife and whisked Mary away to marry her, obviously intent on becoming king himself. It seems like the nobles of Scotland were behaving shamefully by grabbing and throwing Mary Queen of Scots around like a monarchical football. But in Football the objective is to keep the ball and score a goal. Mary soon became a hot potato when Bothwell was defeated at Carberry Hill in June 1567, by the Protestant lords who opposed the marriage. Mary abdicated and was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle. She escaped there and, with the help of some friends, managed to raise an army, but was defeated again at Langside in May 1568. She fled to England were she spent the next 19 years in captivity. There were disagreements with the Protestants and Catholics at this time with suspicion and paranoia running wild alongside stories of assassination plots on Queen Elizabeth 1st. (a protestant) which Mary was implicated in.
Eventually, Mary was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire on the 8th. February 1587. She dressed in the catholic martyrs colours of red. The executioner took three blows to chop her head off. Maybe he was just trying to do it gently. When Elizabeth died in 1603 James the 6th. of Scotland became James 6th. and 1st. of Scotland and England in the United Kingdom. He called the new kingdom Great Britain.
