The Queen of Scots
Next to Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of Edward IV of England, Mary, Queen of Scots is my next favorite. The first portrait of her in this blog is one of my favorites of her. She looks so regal and innocent in it – makes me wonder how things would have turned out if Francis ll of France had lived. Would they have lived happily ever after? Would they have had children? How would it have changed history as a whole? Those questions are ones we will never have answered – unless someone writes a fictional novel about it. 😉

Mary Queen of Scots ( 1542 – 1567 ) -via Royal Family History
1542 – One-week-old Mary, succeeds to the throne on the death of her father James V
1543 – At the Treaty of Greenwich Mary is betrothed to Prince Edward son of Henry VIII of England, but the Scottish Lords refuse to ratify the treaty preferring an alliance with France,
1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries French Dauphin, Francis Valois (he was aged 14) at Notre Dame in Paris. She adopts the French spelling of Stuart for her surname
1559 – John Knox returns to Scotland from Geneva to promote Calvinism.
1559 – Mary becomes Queen of France when her husband becomes King
1560 – Parliament legislates protestant reformation of the Church of Scotland.
1560 – Treaty of Edinburgh between France and England, recognising sovereignty of Mary Queen of Scots and her first husband Francis II
1560 – Latin Mass prohibited in Scotland by Parliament as Protestant faith gains the ascendancy
1561 – Mary Queen of Scots lands at Leith on her return from France, after the death of her husband, King Francis II
1565 – Mary marries her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. The marriage is a disaster
1566 – Darnley jealous of Mary’s Italian secretary David Rizzio, bursts into her room at Holyrood and Rizzio is murdered.
1566 – Mary Queen of Scots gives birth to the future King James VI of Scotland and I of England
1567 – Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, assassinated
1567 – Mary marries Earl of Bothwell. The Scottish Lords imprison Mary in Loch Leven castle.
1567 – Mary Queen of Scots abdicates and the young James VI accedes to Scottish throne. The Earl of Mar appointed regent.














