1542-1587

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. Mary married Francis, the Dauphin of France in 1558, becoming Queen Consort of France from his accession in 1559 until his death in December 1560. Widowed, Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561. The early years of her personal rule were marked by pragmatism, tolerance and moderation. She issued a proclamation accepting the religious settlement in Scotland as she had found it upon her return, retained advisors such as James Stewart, Earl Moray (her illegitimate paternal half-brother), and William Maitland of Lethington, and governed as the Catholic monarch of a Protestant kingdom. As a great granddaughter of Henry VII of England, Mary had once claimed Elizabeths throne as her own and was considered the legitimate sovereign of England by many English Catholics, including participants in a rebellion known as the rising of the North. Perceiving Mary as a threat, Elizabeth had her confined in various houses and manor houses in the interior of England. After eighteen and a half years in captivity, Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1566 and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle.