Three Kingdoms, Three Husbands and One Head.

Mary Queen of Scots, or one could also call her Mary Queen of Tragedy. No tragic Shakespeare play could ever capture nor come close to the horrible events that befell this woman. Made queen at only six days old and then to be swept away from her home at five, off to France never retuning to Scotland till she was eighteen which did not help her establish a true home. Family was ether died, astringed, or thought she was trying to kill them. Religious uproar from nobles rioting and murder plots had her in fear for her life. Life never seemed easy for the young queen. She had three husbands, one made her Queen of France, another joined her at the throne in Scotland and the last would have liked to have seen her take the English throne. Pulled in so many different directions her whole life it is amazing the naive, yet strong Mary didn’t lose her head before someone took it against her will.

On the 14th of December 1542 the new occupant of the throne of Scotland was crowned, just six days after her father King James V of Scotland passed away Mary Stuart was made Queen. At a young age tragedy had already started the young Queen’s life. Upon hearing that James V had died and his daughter now queen; John Knox, a Protestant who rebelled against Catholicism, was recorded saying “"It came wi' a lass and it will gang wi', which means “ The devil go with it will end as it began: it came from a woman and it will end with a woman.” Which can be understood as him comparing her to Eve and saying she will be the end to Scotland, for Eve brought evil into the world and ended the only time earth knew complete peace. Just a baby and she already had people rooting against her. Quickly arraignments to have her married were made, the first one was by King Henry VIII, a decedent relative, who proposed she marry his son Prince Edward, and this would ensure an alliance between the two counties once and for all. Mary would have moved to England and be brought up in the English court, if this marriage would have gone through, she quite possibly would have been queen of both England and Scotland. A treaty was made to make the arrangement official, but the Catholics were opposed to it and to the plan to take her to Stirling Castle. This angering Henry so he broke off the arrangement. This pushing Scotland to make a traditional alliance with France. Angering Henry further he sent raids into Scotland, these raids and the marriage proposal are known as the “Rough Wooing”. Thus, crushing Mary’s first chance to be on the throne of England. Due to Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise, being French, Scotland already had an alliance with France so to strengthen that alliance Mary was set to marry French King Henry II’s son, Francis. She was sent to live in the French court at the age of five. This though would not be the final marriage proposal of Mary.

While at the French court being prepared to be a noble French wife; no one is this party country would tolerate the rough ways of the Scots. Mary was raised as Catholic and French also became her second language. Another advantage of growing up in the court was she was able to get to know her husband, and they did become close friends before they became husband and wife. After his father’s death Francis and Mary were married April 24th, 1558, and became King and Queen of France, but the marriage was short lived. 1560 Francis died of an illness that started out as an ear infection, and since they had no children and she was only Queen consort. Soon though, she was sent back to Scotland, a widow at 18 and losing a kingdom. Mary returned to Scotland basically a foreigner She came back during the fight between two religions, Catholicism and Protistism, due to Mary being Catholic, half of Scotland didn’t look at her with much love. John Knox was one of the Protestants that fought against her. In order to keep the peace somehow Mary tolerated the Protestant ways and also recruited her illegitimate half-brother, James, Earl of Moray, to help since he had influence with the Protestants. John Knox was running muck still and creating history but instead of putting full focus on crushing this rebellion Mary decided to put more focus on trying to find a new husband. Mary was possibly in a rush to insure an heir as quick as possible.

Her father’s cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, had no heir at the time and with no intention of giving birth to one, she needed to name one. Elizabeth thought Mary would be good, since she was connected to the throne by blood. The only thing she asked of Mary is that she marries Lord Robert Dudley and she would name her heir to the throne of England. Mary though turned it down, not exactly clear why it could be because Dudley was apparently unwilling or Mary thought Elizabeth was illegitimate and that Mary should be on England’s thrown now rather than later, no marriage required. Mary was throwing away a perfect opportunity to have the English throne without a bloodshed or extreme issues. Instead Mary married her first cousin, Lord Darnley, he was a grandson of Henry the 8th's sister Margret. Mary’s brother, along with many others, was against the union and were vocal about it. Due to their outcries against the marriage Mary expelled them to England. Which was not the greatest idea since England already had bad blood with Scotland and Mary. Soon Mary found why her half-brother was so against her new husband, he was cruel, rumored abusive, and viscously ambitious. Lord Darnley wanted to have The Crown Matrimonial this would ensure that if Mary died, he would become King of Scotland; Mary let him be King beside her as long as she was Queen and lived but never gave him The Crown Matrimonial. Mary would only have her heir, which by this time she was pregnant with, to be the heir to the Scottish throne. Tragedy soon was to strike the young queen yet again. Mary spent a great deal of time with her Italian secretary David Rizzio, so much so people started to believe the baby in her belly was not Darnley’s but Rizzio’s. Darnley growing jealous and angry with Mary for refusing him The Crown Matrimonial devised a plan with other Scottish nobles. Mary and Rizzio were having dinner one night when Darnley and the nobles burst into the room stabbed Rizzio 59 times and threw him down a flite of stairs. Three months after the murder Mary gave birth to her son James VI. Mary wanted to be rid of Darnley and a man she was in love with James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, told her he would help. And something did happen on February 10, 1567 in Edinburgh there was an explosion in Darnley’s house, and it caught fire, in the morning he was found dead, by strangulation.

The people of Scotland blamed Bothwell for it and what didn’t help were he and Mary getting married not to long after Darnley’s death. Due to this scandal the Scottish nobility, who were supporters of Darnley, rose against Mary. Since the public already agreed that Bothwell played a part in Darnley’s death the concluded that Mary did too. The nobles then sent Bothwell into exile and imprisoned Mary in Lochleven Castle. Mary was forced to abdicate the throne and in so doing so her son becoming a young king, following in his mother’s footsteps. James Stewart, 1st earl of Moray was made King Regent. Former Queen Stuart, being a stubborn woman, later attempted to regain her power by force but was defeated. After that she had to flee, so she fled to England in hopes her cousin, Queen of England, would grant her sanctuary. Protestantism in England come with in with the Religious Settlement of 1559, by this point Elizabeth was a fully devoted Protestant. Even though there were problems with France and Spain on that matter, both being Catholic countries, it seemed in England she was having no problems at all. That would change though when Mary came to England in 1569. Almost the minute Mary set foot on English soil she was a prisoner. She was technically put under house arrest. Quickly Mary was able to gather English Catholics to help secure her legitimism to the Throne. Not too long after Mary’s arrival talks of conspiracies were all over England. Plot to overthrow Elizabeth and make Mary queen. It helped the Catholics in England’s mission when Pope Pius V put out a damning Papal Bull that called 'the pretended Queen of England, the Servant of Wickedness', declared her deposed and absolved her subjects from any oath of allegiance to her. It even told the Catholics of England they could disobey her. After this bull there were more than five more attempts to overthrow her, all involving Mary.

Many plots to overthrow Liz set during Mary's time in England. One plot was set by Roberto Ridolfi, an Italian living in London. His conspiracy was to use Spanish troops to get rid of Elizabeth and put Mary on the throne with a man named Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, as her husband. When this plot was found out and Norfolk being involved, he was put on trial, found guilty and executed. The plot was focused around Mary and though not confirmed rumored to be aware of it and involved. There were many other plots but the one that sealed Mary’s fate was in July 1586 made by Anthony Babington. It was the plot hatched by Anthony Babington to kill Elizabeth and start a Catholic uprising, which was to be Mary's undoing. Babington wrote to Mary that she had supporters 'who for the zeal they bear unto the Catholic cause and your Majesty's service will undertake that tragically execution'. Mary replied to Babington: “Then shall it be time to set the six gentlemen to work, taking order upon the accomplishment of their design…” Elizabeth though had a spymaster her Secretary of State Francis Willingham, who had intercepted these letters. This letter is what made sure Mary was going to lose her head. She was arrested on 11 August 1586 and brought to trial in October. Parliament urged Elizabeth to sentence her to death, but Elizabeth struggled with the decision for months, probably not wanting to turn into her father and the fact Mary was her blood, but finally she signed the death warrant. Mary Queen of Scots after being prisoner for 18 years, was executed on the 8th of February 1587, she was 44. Her last words were “My faith is the ancient Catholic faith. It is for this faith that I give up my life. In Thee I trust, O Lord; into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”

This was only a quick look at the life of Mary Queen of Scots Brief Queen of France and Almost Queen of England Twice, there were so many more tragedies in between the bigger ones and they are too many to count, but none the less it is gathered Mary Stuart had a tragic life. Even though Mary was called Queen of Scots what hurt her was she was gone from Scotland for 13 years and was out of touch with her people, she spoke French not a strong Scottish accent. She also was hurt by the estrangement of family, like her cousin Queen Elizabeth and hurt by matters of the heart, falling in and out of love. She was foolish woman as well, thinking that her plots would go unchecked. Mary had many opportunities to make her life less tragic, but she did not take them she stayed stubborn and true to her path. Mary stayed true to her faith, her heart and her beliefs to the very end, which were her strengths and her biggest weakness. One thing to be said if there is a royal on the thrown with the last name Tudor or Stuart, they can be sure to have an interesting and tragic life, just like Mary Queen of Scots.