Mary, Queen of Scots, was born to King James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise in 1542. She was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, and was crowned Queen of France before returning to Scotland. Mary’s marriage to Lord Darnley was disastrous, and she was implicated in his murder. She fled to England seeking refuge but was imprisoned by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, who feared Mary’s claim to the English throne. Mary was eventually tried and executed for treason in 1587.
Born Queen of Scots, she was crowned Queen of France and died Queen of Scots. Mary, Queen of Scots reigned in a turbulent age named after her illustrious cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Both descendants of King Henry VII, their respective reigns were inextricably intertwined.
Mary was born on 8 December 1542 to Mary of Guise and King James V of Scotland. She was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, who married King James IV of Scotland. Elizabeth, of course, was Henry VIII’s daughter. However, Mary’s “legitimate” status and her Catholic faith made her Queen Mary I’s only possible successor in Catholic Europe. The English Parliament took a different view of the situation and called Elizabeth.
James V died when his daughter was only a week old, guaranteeing her succession to the throne of Scotland. The Lords Regents had originally contracted Mary to marry King Edward VI of England, but Henry VIII effectively ended that arrangement when he was implicated in the murder of Cardinal Beaton. The Scottish Parliament then approved a marriage to the Dauphin of France, and Mary made the journey there aged 5. She grew up in the French court and was the favorite of the entire royal family.
When Queen Mary I died, King Henry II of France encouraged his daughter-in-law to assume the arms of England on her coat of arms. Elizabeth was enraged by this presumption and, as her father, she bore a grudge.
Mary reigned as queen of France with her young husband as king, from 1559 to 1560. Then, her mother died and her husband died within six months of each other. With no official court post other than as queen dowager, she decided to return home to Scotland, where she would once again be the principal lady-in-waiting. She was warmly received and impressed the Scottish people with her love of hunting and her lively enthusiasm for life.
Mindful of her dynastic duties to produce an heir, Mary settled on Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. She was a tall woman for her time and Lord Darnley, even taller than her, impressed her with her social graces, outward charm and predilection for courtly amusements. It was a bad decision.
Darnley was a weak-willed narcissist with a lust for power. Mary would not grant him the marriage crown, however, and her anger probably led him to kill her secretary while she was pregnant with her child and heir. A miscarriage, he thought, would help. She did keep her son, though, but it was never easier with Darnley, and she probably breathed her first sigh of relief when he was murdered in 1567. She was implicated in this plot and, although later cleared up, it tarnished her image of her.
Though Catholic, Mary was tolerant of the Protestant faith and, like Elizabeth, was uninterested in religious persecution bloodying the hands of her country. In fact, her son, he grew up a staunch Presbyterian. The Queen struggled to keep her country’s tenuous peace with England, Spain and France, knowing that she could not afford a war with any of those nations.
After Darnley’s death, Mary married James Hepburn, Lord of Bothwell, in an attempt to unify the squabbling Scottish lords behind her. It was only a temporary solution. Her lords rebelled against Bothwell’s new power and forced her to abdicate the throne to her son James, in 1567.
Mary fled to England, hoping for a refuge, but Elizabeth was wary of her cousin’s residence and, being an heirless queen, feared that Mary might try to gain the English throne for herself and her son. Elizabeth had probably already decided that James VI of Scotland would be her heir, but calling him that would have been disastrous for her political position.
Elizabeth kept Mary under close watch for the remaining years of her life, and as Elizabeth aged, she became more fearful of the safety of her throne, and more fearful of Mary’s involvement in plots against her. Was Mary guilty of plotting against her cousin? It all depends on who is analyzing the story. In all likelihood, the worst you have done is not to discourage plots, rather than actively encouraging them. She did, however, make plot leaks that never panned out. In any case, Elizabeth ran scared in 1586 and ordered Mary to be tried for treason.
The guilty verdict was obvious and Mary knew it. However, she defended herself vigorously and even at her death on February 8, 1587, she maintained her innocence. Her execution led to her being remembered as a martyr, and her life and case have been debated at length for the past 400 years or so.
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