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One of history's enigmas, Mary Queen of Scots, continues to intrigue us. She lived a complicated life, surrounded by plots and tragedy, ending in her execution, in 1587, on the orders of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Born in Scotland, in 1542, Mary became queen of that country soon after her birth, on the death of her father James V. An attempt to betroth the young queen to Edward, son of Henry VIII, failed; instead she was sent to be raised at the French court where at the age of 15, in 1558, she was married to Francis [the Dauphin] eldest son of Henri II. The king was killed in a jousting accident the following year and the young Francis became King of France. He died soon after, in 1560, making Mary a 17 year old widow. Her French mother had also died in 1560, so the young queen consort lost three people very dear to her within a period of six months.

In 1561, Mary Queen of Scots returned to Scotland. She had been raised as a Catholic but acted with moderation towards the Protestant Scots and in 1565, aged 22, she married Lord Darnley. He was a cousin of Mary's with a poor reputation as a violent drunkard. His violent nature was demonstrated when he, with a gang of thugs, attacked and killed Mary's secretary, Rizzio. Darnley was jealous of the close friendship between his wife and her secretary. Mary gave birth to a son in 1566. [He was named James and he would ascend the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth I].

With her marriage becoming less and less tolerable, Mary found solace with the Earl of Bothwell. He was a major suspect in the murder of Darnley and it seems probable that the queen also knew of the plot to kill her husband, in 1567. She married Bothwell some months following the murder, but again made an unwise choice of husband. He was hated by the Scottish nobles who united against Mary and her unpopular husband. Bothwell managed to reach Europe while the queen was made prisoner at the castle of Lochleven and forced to abdicate and hand over the throne to her young son, James. The Scots felt that the catholic Mary was not to be trusted.

In 1568, Mary escaped from her Scottish prison and went to England where she thought her cousin, Queen Elizabeth, would help her. This proved to be a great misjudgment and for the next 19 unhappy years, Mary was held prisoner in various castles, and never, ever, met with Elizabeth.

Mary could have lived out the rest of her life uneventfully, were it not for the fact that she felt she had a legal right to the throne of England, a claim that did little to endear her to Elizabeth. Catholics would have backed this claim and when, in 1570, the Pope himself supported Mary as the legal queen of England, Elizabeth realized that she posed a major threat to stability. In 1586, a two day trial found Mary guilty of plotting against the Queen of England and in 1587 she was executed.

Mary Queen of Scots' unhappy life had a bizarre ending. Her head was severed from her body [needing two blows of the axe] and when the axe man grasped her head to hold it up, a wig came away in his hand. It was not generally known that Mary was bald! A further unusual feature of the execution was the presence of Mary's small and terrified dog, hiding under her skirts.

The ill-starred Mary, Queen of Scots, is now buried in Westminster Abbey whence her son, King James I of England, had her body brought in 1612. She still has loyal followers, who continue to claim that she was the rightful Queen of England.

Learn more about this author, Anne Penny.
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