Mary, Queen of Scots
Mairi Banrigh nan Albannach
Queen of Scots · Queen consort of France (1559–1560)
1542 – 1587
Biography
Crowned at nine months old, raised at the French court, briefly queen of France through her marriage to Francis II, and returned to Scotland a Catholic widow in a country newly Protestant. Three increasingly disastrous marriages, the murder of her secretary Riccio, the murder of her husband Darnley, and her abduction by Bothwell finally drove the Scottish lords to force her abdication in 1567. She fled to England seeking protection from her cousin Elizabeth I, who instead held her prisoner for nineteen years before having her tried and executed for plotting against the English crown.
Events
On 8 February 1587, after nineteen years of English captivity and three botched plots against Elizabeth I in her name, Mary Stuart was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle. Elizabeth signed the warrant under enormous Privy Council pressure and later professed bitter regret. Mary's son James VI of Scotland — destined to inherit the English throne sixteen years later — protested the execution but did not break with England over it.
Also there: Elizabeth I
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