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Explore the tumultuous life of Mary, Queen of Scots, from her marriages, power struggles, and ultimate downfall. Discover the plots, executions, and the lasting impact she had on English history.
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Mary’s first marriage was to Francis II of France. According to the ‘Auld Alliance’, Scotland and France were long standing allies. However, Francis died in 1560 and Mary, feeling it was better to be a Queen of Scotland than an ex-Queen of France, returned to her homeland. Unfortunately, Mary had grown up in France as a Catholic and her homeland was Protestant.
Mary’s second marriage was to Henry Stuart Lord Darnley; a descendant of Henry VII. Elizabeth I was infuriated because any children the couple had would have a claim to her throne. The Scottish Lords did not like it because Darnley was Catholic. However, things did not go as well as Mary may have hoped. Her new husband was arrogant and power hungry. On one occasion he attacked Mary in an attempt to make her miscarry their unborn child. So Mary found escape elsewhere…
David Rizzio, Mary’s private secretary, was everything that Darnley was not. Where Darnley was drunk, obnoxious and big headed, Rizzio was Italian, amusing and charming. Darnley would not stand for Mary’s relationship with Rizzio. In March 1566, Darnley and a group of Lords came to Holyrood Castle and dragged Rizzio from Mary’s chambers. Rizzio clung to Mary, who was heavily pregnant, as they stabbed him fifty six times.
Following the birth of her son, Mary hatched a plot to exact her revenge on Darnley. Her husband was already ill and was recuperating in Edinburgh, where Mary visited him frequently. In February 1567 there was an explosion in the house. Darnley was dead… However, he was not found inside the house. He was outside; and he had been strangled. James Hepburn Earl of Bothwell, who was to be Mary’s third husband, was suspected of committing the assassination. Mary married him just three months after the Kirk O’ Field explosion. The Scottish nobility turned against Mary and Bothwell and she was forced to abdicate her throne and flee to England.
In England, Mary presented a problem for her cousin Elizabeth. She could not send a Queen back to the Scots for execution. Nor could she set her free in England since, as a Catholic, she represented a threat to her throne. So Elizabeth kept Mary imprisoned for nineteen years.
There were a number of plots to replace Elizabeth on the throne with Mary, including the Ridolfi Plot and the Throckmorton Plot. However, it was the Babington Plot which eventually sealed Mary’s fate. While Elizabeth was reluctant to act against her cousin, Elizabeth’s Ministers feared Mary would become a figurehead for English Catholics. Sir Francis Walsingham intercepted correspondence between Mary and a Catholic nobleman: Anthony Babington. The letters revealed that Babington and six others planned a foreign invasion, which Mary agreed to.
Elizabeth did not want to sign Mary’s death warrant. Firstly, she was her cousin, but furthermore, Mary was a Queen anointed by God. Executing her set a dangerous precedent. Since Mary was a foreign monarch, there is also an argument that Elizabeth did not have the right to put her on trial or impose the death penalty. As a result of Mary’s execution, the Spanish Armada sailed to England with the intention of deposing Elizabeth.
