Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 14 on 2/5/2004.

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One of our greatest 'whodunnits'

James Irvine Robertson looks at the strange case of Lord Darnley - King Henry - who was a victim of political intrigue and murder

It was such a pity that neither Mary of Scotland nor Elizabeth of England had been born a man. Everyone knew theirs would have been a match made in heaven as well as on earth.

Both queens regretted it, and so did their advisers for in the 16th century queens needed husbands, not only to produce an heir but because their spouses would become king. Women weren’t really considered up to the job of reigning.

Mary was born in 1542 and became monarch a few days later following the death of her father James V. Her mother was Mary of Guise who sent her to France where she was raised in the French court.

In 1558, aged 16 she married the young heir to the French throne. A year later she was Queen of France, a year later a widow and a year after that she came to Scotland to take up her inheritance as Queen of Scotland.

As well as being beautiful and charismatic she was also the presumptive heir to the throne of England, but she was a Catholic and that certainly posed a problem when it came to choosing a suitable husband.

Following the reformation both countries were now Protestant and therefore any Royalhusband- to-be needed the approval of both the English Queen and the Scots nobility.

A foreign princeling might subordinate the nation to his own country as well as being almost certainly Catholic. At the same time a subject might become overmighty and, in a Scotland where half the members of the aristocracy thought they had a decent chance of becoming king, no single candidate cou.....

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By James Irvine Robertson

Section : Scottish History

Page number : 20