Well, ok, perhaps love at second or third sight!
On this day in Tudor history, Saturday 17th February 1565, Mary, Queen of Scots, met and fell in love with Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, at Wemyss Castle in Scotland. Just over 7 months later, the couple got married.
Find out more about the background of this meeting between Mary, Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley, Mary’s thoughts on Darnley, and what happened next, in this talk…
Also on this day in Tudor history, 17th February 1547, Edward Seymour was made Duke of Somerset.
Find out more bout Edward Seymour and why he received this title in this video…
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was handsome and charming and he won Mary over. She liked what she saw. He behaved like a gent and he was everything Mary wanted. It wasn’t so daft her wedding him either. As the son of Margaret Douglas and Matthew Earl of Lennox, he was the grandson of Margaret Tudor, Queen of King James IV and sister of King Henry Viii of England. He had a claim to both thrones as did his cousin, Mary. Mary saw herself as the next heir to Scotland, in fact she styled herself Queen of England as she was taught that Elizabeth was not legitimate and therefore had no right to the English throne.
However, Elizabeth was Queen and there was nothing Mary could currently do to change that. She could only strengthen her hand with an alliance which brought her closer to the English throne and produce a son who would rule both kingdoms. In Darnley she had such a man.
It was unfortunate for Mary that 21 year old Darnley turned out to be a wrecking ball. He was a drunk and somehow hid that from Mary. He was also bi sexual, leaning more towards men than women, he was debauched and he was a dangerous spoilt brat. He did his duty and Mary quickly conceived. But Darnley made too many demands. He wanted the crown Matrimonial and this she denied him. He imagined that her Secretary, David Rizzio was her lover and he had the men of Court bind themselves to him as King if he arranged the murder of Rizzio. This of course backfired and Mary and Darnley fled before she had her son James and returning in triumph to Edinburgh, she pardoned all parties. Mary never trusted her husband again and tried to separate from him. Eventually another group of Lords led by James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell plotted to get rid of Darnley. He was recovering from either small pox or the pox when the house he was living in blew up. Darnley was found strangled and stabbed.
Mary was implicated in his murder but at first she did well. She mourned him for six weeks. She held an investigation and arrested Bothwell. He was cleared but suspicion remained. She was kidnapped by Bothwell, raped and forced to marry him. On her return to Edinburgh she was booed and called a wh*re. She was arrested and taken to Loch Leven. Here she miscarried twins and was forced to abdicate. Mary escaped and sought aid in England.
For Mary this was another mistake and she spent 19 years in prison there. On 8th February 1587 she was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in the Midlands. Bothwell was taken prisoner in Denmark where he too sought refuge. He died and went mad in prison.