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One of the best known of the Scottish royalty, Mary Queen of Scots was Queen of Scotland from 1542 to 1567 and Queen of France from 1559 to 1560. She was born Mary Stuart, the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. She was grandniece of Henry VIII, which placed her in line for the throne of England after the king’s children. She became Queen of Scotland when she was only a week old, so a regency actually ruled the country for her.
In 1548, Mary Queen of Scots was sent to France for her education and her mother’s family supervised her upbringing. She married the Crown Prince of France in 1558, becoming Queen in 1559. When her husband died in 1560, she returned to Scotland. As Queen of a country she knew little about, she had many problems upon her return. The major stumbling block for her as Queen of Scotland was the fact that she was Catholic. John Knox, the leader of the strong Calvinist movement, was vehemently opposed to her taking her rightful place on the throne.
The Scottish nobles also resented Mary Queen of Scots and as a result, she had to suppress several revolts. There were also plots against her with the English and her Protestant cousin, Elizabeth I, was the favourite for the English throne. The English were also afraid that Mary would form an alliance between Scotland and France against England.
In 1565, Mary Queen of Scots married her English cousin, Lord Darnley, who oddly enough, also had a claim on the throne of England. Many of the Scottish people were opposed to this marriage, which was fraught with controversy. However, Mary took command and drove the rebels out of Scotland. In 1566, Mary gave birth to a son, but came to hate her husband because he had brutally murdered her adviser and secretary, David Rizzio. It is believed that she arranged for the Earl of Bothwell to carry out her husband’s murder.
When Mary Queen of Scots married the Earl of Bothwell only a few months after her husband was killed, she was forced to abdicate the throne in favour of her son and she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle. She escaped from her prison in 1568 and managed to raise a small army. She fled to England, where Queen Elizabeth I kept her under house arrest. During this time, she plotted to murder the queen. She was found guilty of treason and was beheaded in 1587. Her son became James VI of Scotland and later became the first Stuart ruler of England as James I.
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