Mary Queen of Scots is known by many names which include Mary I and Marie Stuart, among others. She was notoriously known to have been involved in at least three alleged plots to have Queen Elizabeth I of England killed. Elizabeth’s death would have resulted in Mary Queen of Scots’ rise to the throne.
Due to this, she was found guilty of treason and was executed by beheading. Her decapitation became the source of many stories, some of which are fiction. This includes the executioner having to make two strikes before beheading her, saying “God save the Queen,” and discovering that Mary Queen of Scots was wearing an auburn colored wig to hide her graying hair.
Mary Queen of Scots, born as Princess Mary Stuart at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow West Lothian in 1542, was the daughter of James V whose death resulted in her ascending to the throne at only 6 or 7 days old.
Even though only a male descendant could inherit the throne, Mary’s case was special because Robert II of Scotland didn’t have any legitimate sons. James V was a member of the King’s court and was then the official and legitimate next in line to the Scottish throne.
Mary was crowned Queen of Scots at the age of nine months and was promised in marriage to Edward, the son of King Henry III of England when she was only 6 months old.
The betrothal of Mary to Edward resulted in a war when the Scottish Parliament broke off the engagement and treaty with England. Due to this, Henry VIII raided Scotland to force Mary’s marriage to Edward. This resulted in a devastating loss of property and lives until Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart’s mother, asked for help from the French. Eventually, the French aided the Scots but with one prize to pay: the French Marriage Treaty which was signed and agreed upon for Mary to marry Dauphin Francois, King Henry II’s three year-old son who eventually became King Francis II of France.
Henry VIII didn’t take what occurred lightly. He excluded Mary’s family, the Stuarts, from succeeding the throne even though Mary was next in line after her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was not considered a real heir to the throne since it was widely believed that Elizabeth was illegitimate. Therefore, she was never crowned as queen of the English throne. Due to this, the bad blood between Elizabeth and Mary gave rise to the alleged attempts to dethrone Elizabeth and to have Mary be crowned as the queen.
In addition, Mary went through a lot of other difficulties which included being imprisoned and tried for the murder of her ex-husband, Lord Darnley. However, Mary Queen of Scots remained with many supporters which made Queen Elizabeth come up with plans to stop Mary and her descendants from ever ascending to the English throne.
Mary was eventually put on trial via the Babington Plot which earned her a verdict of guilty, imprisonment for 20 years, and execution at the age 44.
She was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire on February 8, 1587.
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