Portrait of Queen Mary
16th century Linlithgow Palace
On 8 December 1542, Mary. Stuart was born in Linlithgow Palace, Scotland, the son of King James V of Scotland, who was born leading an army against the armies of Henry VIII of England.
Just six days after his birth, James V collapsed in internal and external difficulties. Since Mary was an only daughter, she naturally inherited the throne and became queen of Scotland.
Edward, the youngest son of Henry VIII of Ireland, was just four years old, and Henry VIII felt that Edward must inherit the throne of england, and if his queen was Queen Mary of the Kingdom of Scotland, then England and Scotland would naturally merge into one. It was more advantageous for England and Scotland to conclude a marriage treaty than to continue the war.
Queen Mary's childhood was still playing carefreely, and the country was involved in war because of her marriage. From the beginning, Queen Mary's mother opposed marriage: first, as a Catholic, she did not want her daughter to marry a Protestant prince; Second, as a Frenchman, she felt that her daughter could not marry an English prince and should marry France. Her claim was supported by Catholics in Scotland.
The English government learned that Scotland was repentant, the army invaded Scotland, and Edinburgh was in danger. The Scottish government sent men to France for help, and in order to persuade the King, they promised that if the King's reinforcements repulsed England, Queen Mary could marry the French prince François.
The Marriage Plan proposed by the Scots impressed the King, so he agreed to the Scottish request and sent a reinforcement of six thousand men to join them against England. After French reinforcements arrived, Queen Mary was sent to France when she was five years and eight months old.
Queen Mary lived in the Palais Saint-Germain in France
King Henry II of France prepared a grand welcome ceremony for the child queen.
Portrait of Mary as a girl
Mary, a teenage girl in the TV series
As she grew older, Mary became more and more beautiful, elegant and decent, and naturally became a Catholic. She married French Crown Prince François at the age of 16 and had a grand wedding at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Commemorative coins issued to commemorate weddings
Soon after, Henry II ventured into a race of noble knights, resulting in an accidental eye injury and death. François ascended the throne and Marie became Queen of France.
In the summer of 1560, Queen Mary's mother died. But the misfortune did not stop, at the end of the year, her husband François died of illness.
According to the custom of that era, she appeared in public and dressed in self-color to mourn her deceased husband. So, slowly, the French people began to call Queen Mary the White Queen. (Not the White Queen of disney films)
Although Queen Mary was sad during her widowhood, she did not indulge in grief and spend her days sullen and idle. During that time, she used her free time to learn various knowledge and cultivate various hobbies. Because Queen Catherine (her mother-in-law) returned to power to ostracize Mary, Queen Mary decided to return to Scotland.
Despite being harassed by Queen Catherine of France, Mary did not take it to heart, and for her, the real threat came from her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.
Elizabeth I as a girl
At that time, Elizabeth, who was not yet married, was almost 30 years old, and the legitimacy of the marriage between Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII was questioned, and Anne Boleyn was sent to the guillotine by Henry VIII, so her right to the throne was also questioned.
Previously, King Henry II of France had questioned Queen Elizabeth's succession and advocated that Queen Mary inherit the throne of England. To this end, he ordered someone to design a special coat of arms for Queen Mary, which was on top of England and Scotland, and carved this coat of arms on the utensils used by Queen Mary. The coat of arms was also carved into the gates of the city, and Queen Mary entered the city in a very solemn manner through the heraldic gates. At that ceremony, the English envoys were also present, and the envoys who witnessed the event immediately reported to Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth decided that Queen Mary would threaten her rule.
After determining that Queen Mary was returning to power in Scotland, Queen Elizabeth believed that once her cousin niece returned to Scotland and successfully took power, she would wage war with herself for the throne of England. So Queen Elizabeth took precautions and tried to stop all this. She sent someone to inquire about the date of Mary's return, and issued an order to the navy to liquidate the pirates between England and France, in fact, to intercept Mary's fleet. Eventually, because of the fog, Queen Mary's ship passed by the British Navy.
In August 1561, Queen Mary arrived in Scotland. With the help of her half-brother Lord James, she successfully took over the power of Scotland.
Because Queen Elizabeth is not married and has no heir, Queen Mary is the second in line to the throne of England, and she will be able to justifiably inherit the Throne of England. There was also a third heir, Lady Lennox and his son, Duke Darnley.
Mary wanted Elizabeth to recognize her heir status, but was refused. She also had a relatively simple way of marrying Lord Darnley, so that the succession of Queen Mary and Lady Lennox would be unified. In fact, the last person to inherit the throne of England was Queen Mary and Lord Darnley, the child who was both King James VI of Scotland and King James of England.
Lord Darnley was Queen Mary's cousin and they were very close by blood. In order to please Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary wrote to ask for Queen Elizabeth's advice. But Elizabeth constantly obstructed Queen Mary's marriage.
Before meeting Lord Da Enley, Queen Mary considered the possibility of their marriage only from a political point of view, and she only wanted to lock in the throne of England after Queen Elizabeth's death. After meeting Lord Darnley, Queen Mary was attracted to him, and it took only six months for Queen Mary to marry Lord Darnley.
Portrait of Mary with her second husband, Lord Darnley
However, life after marriage is not as happy as Queen Mary envisions. Although Lord Darnley was handsome and courteous, it was regrettable that her husband was weak-willed, pretentious and vain. After marrying Queen Mary, his identity and status changed dramatically, and he became arrogant and arrogant. Queen Mary gave him the corresponding powers and positions, and not only was he not grateful, but he never satisfied himself by demanding more power. She chose to be patient and continued to condone Lord Darnley.
At the same time, civil war broke out again within Scotland. The Earl of Morrie was adamantly opposed to queen Mary's marriage to The Lord of Darnley, and after Queen Mary's marriage, they launched an open rebellion. Fortunately, Queen Mary's side won the final victory, and Count Moree and others had to go into exile.
Only four months after their marriage, the original Lord Darnley broke Queen Mary's heart, and not only that, he even wanted to fight for power and let his wife Queen Mary hand over the power of the country to him. The Queen's close attendant, David. Riccio supported Queen Mary and opposed Lord Darnley.
Soon after, Lord Darnley and the Scottish nobleman Ruthwin plotted the assassination of David. Riccio's plan to assassinate David in the Queen's bedroom. The Queen was subsequently placed under house arrest and Lord Darnley elected as head of government.
Soon, Lord Darnley realized that he was like a puppet, and that the real power was in Rusvin's hands. So he and Queen Mary escaped from Edinburgh. Queen Mary then issued the Order of the King of Duty and personally gathered a large army to prepare for the counter-insurgency, and people from all over Scotland flocked to her banner. Later, Queen Mary pardoned the previous rebels, the Earl of Morrie, and recalled them to Scotland to join the fighting, and Rubens and the others fled.
About seven months after the rebellion was quelled again, Queen Mary's son, later King James VI of Scotland, was born.
Her husband, Lord Darnley, did not learn the lesson of the last seizure of power, but did whatever it took to get Queen Mary to hand over power. Trying to develop his own power, trying to compete with Queen Mary, and even thinking of defeating Queen Mary completely by his own strength. What he did broke Queen Mary's heart and alerted some in the Scottish government. Some suggested that Queen Mary divorce Lord Darnley. However, Queen Mary did not think so, she knew that divorce was not necessarily beneficial to her son, and for the sake of her son, she could endure her husband's ruthlessness.
Soon after, as the Earl of Bothwell fell madly in love with Queen Mary, he designed to kill Lord Darnley. Although the Earl of Bothwell was imprisoned, the Earl was later released because there was no favorable evidence. Over the next three months, she had a secret wedding with the Earl of Boswell.
To this day, there is still debate about whether Queen Mary knew the truth about Darnley's death, whether she was involved in the plot of the Earl of Bothwell, and whether she married the Earl of Bothwell on her own initiative or was coerced.
After the marriage, the Earl of Boswell controlled Queen Mary and blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and the Earl of Boswell always issued orders in the name of Queen Mary, which caused dissatisfaction among the nobles, and the Scottish nobles led troops to depose her. The Earl of Bothwell fled and became a pirate.
When the Scottish government discussed the future of Scotland, the bill put forward by people who supported Queen Mary was rejected. Finally, the motions put forward by those who opposed Queen Mary were adopted: first, Queen Mary abdicated and Prince James ascended the throne: second, the Earl of Morrie was invited to return to the country for regency; Third, when Prince James became an adult, the Earl of Morrie had to return to power. Until then, Queen Mary remained Queen of Scotland, and their bills could only take effect after she signed them.
Eventually, Queen Mary gave in. On 25 July 1567, Queen Mary signed the document. Four days later, the young Prince James was coronated in Stirlingburgh, becoming King James VI of Scotland. The nobles put Queen Mary under house arrest.
When she fled to England for help, she was imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth and did not take drastic action. On the one hand, Elizabeth feared that excessive behavior would provoke hostility on the French side, which would lead to war between England and France; Second, she did not want to provoke Scotland, after all, Queen Mary's son was the current King James VI of Scotland.
Eighteen years later, in 1586, queen Mary angered queen Elizabeth because of her involvement in the Babington conspiracy. Babington was a young gentleman in England. Because of Queen Mary's legend and charm, and because of his own ambitions, he is ready to rescue Queen Mary, who was placed under house arrest by Queen Elizabeth. To this end, he gathered a large number of influential Catholics in England. They decided to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, rescue her, and launch an uprising, or rebellion, to revolutionize the politics and religion of England.
Later, the matter was revealed, Babington was charged with treason, the British government tried Queen Mary in public, the Special Court sentenced Queen Mary to death, Queen Elizabeth finally signed the death penalty approval order, and her body was solemnly buried. After 15 years, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, fulfilled his dream for his mother and became King James I of England. After becoming King of England, he moved his mother's body to Westminster Abbey, where Queen Mary is buried.
For many years afterwards, England and Ireland remained divided in two.
Queen Mary said goodbye to her maids