When Mary Queen of Scots was brought into the world, there were religious wars between France and Great Britain - Scotland being somewhere in the middle of the two. The French were deeply Catholic, whereas Great Britain followed the Protestant religion. Throughout her early years, Mary would know nothing more than the religious war that surrounded her and her country. What she wanted was independence from both sides of the war but her efforts seemed never to be enough. She was frowned upon by many people and even her own family members had no fondness of her existence. More shocking is the fact that she died by the very hands of her family. A very important historical figure of Great Britain and Scotland, the life of Mary Queen of Scots was full of doubt.

Mary Stuart was born in Linlithgow Palace, Scotland in 1542. Her mother was a member of the Guise family - a very powerful family from France and her father was James V of Scotland - the nephew from English king Henry VIII. At just six days old, Mary would become the Queen of Scotland after her father died at the age of thirty. It was said that he was devastated that his child was a daughter instead of the son he had hoped for to continue the Scottish reign.

When Mary turned six years old she was sent to France to be married to Francis II. This was Scotland's deal with France to help them remain independent from the ever forceful English. She would remain in France until she turned 18, after a short rule with Francis II who passed away, his jealous mother would send her back to Scotland.

On returning to Scotland, despite being the Queen of her nation, she was not well likened due to her Catholic faith. Scotland was now under the influence of a man named John Knox who was a man of the Protestant religion. She did re-marry though, a man named Henry - the Lord of Darnley. Her love for her second husband would be short-lived though as he insisted on visiting taverns and carrying an air of arrogance. He would no longer stay at her side politically, but the marriage was not broken entirely.

Life became more troublesome for Mary as she became friendly with her Italian secretary and musician, David Rizzio. Finally Mary had someone with whom she could trust and share happy moments with. As Henry became increasingly jealous of David, he thought the only solution to his wives close relationship with him, was to murder him right in her presence. Very shortly after this incident, Mary Queen of Scots would give birth to a son - James VI of Scotland. He would go on to become the King James I of England.

Mary would later remarry for a third time, this time to the Earl of Bothwell who had been involved in the planned explosion at Kirk of Field - killing Lord of Darnley. Until this day it is unclear if Mary had some knowledge of the planned killing of Lord Darnley. However, this was an event that would leave her no peace until her death. She was captured on numerous occasions by Protestant forces, being imprisoned again and again - despite a few escapes.

In 1587, supporters of the Catholic faith and of Mary, tried to assassinate her cousin Elizabeth I so that Mary would take back her throne. Mary's involvement in the attempted assassination was the final straw. Elizabeth I sent her to be executed after spending nineteen years within a prison cell. She would later be laid to rest by her son James the I of England.

This is an original news article © The Kids Window

One in a series of articles about British history written for children.


[News Links]