Mary Queen of Scots

The Magic of Mary

Mary Queen of Scots has captured the imagination for more than four hundred years. A beautiful, tragic and romantic figure, the myth is hard to separate from the reality. Born in Linlithgo Palace in 1542 she was the Queen of Scotland as a tiny baby, and the Queen of France when her husband, the Dauphin, succeeded to the throne in 1559. She became the Dowager Queen when he died the following year and was also heir to the throne of England as granddaughter of Mary Tudor.

She lived with the turmoil of the Catholic-Protestant situation and with the plots and counterplots of conniving nobles. Implicated in the murder of her husband Darnley she was incarcerated in the island prison on Loch Leven and her escape led only to 19 more years of imprisonment in England and her beheading at Fotheringay in 1587, unaided by her son King James IV of Scotland (and eventually King of England as well).

Jedburgh Castle

Queen Mary's House, Jedburgh, is a sixteenth century T-plan tower house. Her chamber on the second floor was where she lay desperately ill, after her visit to Bothwell at Hermitage castle in 1566. It belonged to the Scotts of Ancrum, and is now in a public park.

Falkland Palace

Falkland palace was a country residence and hunting seat for eight Scottish monarchs. It has a late fifteenth century gatehouse, and the mullioned-windowed Chapel Royal has a sixteenth century oak screen and painted ceiling from 1633. Mary visited it in 1563. The tennis court is reputedly the oldest in the world which is still in use.

Holyrood House

Holyrood House is the Queen's official residence in Scotland. Mary Queen of Scots lived here from 1561 to 1567, having been married in the Abbey to Lord Darnley. Her secretary Rizzo was murdered here, in her outer chamber.