Catholic queen of Scotland who, when she was deposed for her complicity in the murder of her husband, fled to England where she was imprisoned for her alleged role in the crime. Even there, however, she involved herself in a number of Catholic plots to usurp the throne from Elizabeth I, which led to her execution.
Daughter of King James Stuart V of Scotland and Marie of Guise, Mary was crowned Queen of Scotland when she was just six days old. Betrothed to Edward in 1543, though nothing came of it, she was promised in marriage to the dauphine of France, and at age six she left for France and remained there, brought up French and Catholic, until she was widowed, childless, in 1560. The next year she returned to Scotland. In the wake of the recent death of Mary I of England, many Catholic considered her the rightful queen to the throne of England; Elizabeth I, being the daughter of Anne Boleyn, was, in their eyes, illegitimate. This belief was to involve Mary and Elizabeth in a life-long tiff under death took one of them.
Her reign in Scotland was rather a success in the beginning. During her minority and in her absence, the Scottish Parliament had in 1560 passed the bill to abolish the authority of the pope in Scotland, forbid the Mass to be celebrated, and adopted a Reformed confession of faith. Mary, though remaining a Catholic and celebrating Mass in private (and earning the wrath of John Knox for it), navigated the difficult straits of governing a Protestant nation effectively.
Her downfall began when she married Lord Darnley, her first cousin, in 1565, with whom she had a son, James (later King James VI of Scotland, and who eventually succeeded Elizabeth as James I of England). Elizabeth had remained un-married and the question of succession was an urgent matter in England. Many (including Elizabeth) suspected that the marriage of these two Catholics with claims to the English throne was a plot by Mary to oust Elizabeth. The union, however, soon soured, and in 1567 Darnley was murdered, his body found a short distance from his gun-powder-wrecked lodgings. Mary's downfall was complete when she—already pregnant with twins (they died in childbirth)—married the alleged murderer, the earl of Bothwell. She was deposed from power, and her son James was proclaimed James VI of Scotland.
She managed to escape to England, where she was put on trial, and imprisoned. Even from the confines of gaol, however, she continued to participate in a number of Catholic plots to overthrow Elizabeth and gain the English crown for herself. Though amenable in the beginning to making peace with her, Elizabeth was finally forced to make the most painful decision in her life. Mary was found guilty in October 1586. Then Elizabeth vacillated somemore over what to do with Mary. Mary was executed on the 8 February next.
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200216lch