Mary Queen of Scots

Mary was educated in France and married the Dauphin, afterwards Francis II.  She returned to Scotland, a widow, in 1561, and her marriage to Lord Darnley in 1565 commenced a long series of misfortunes.  Darnley was killed by a gunpowder explosion, and Mary’s marriage to the Earl of Bothwell, Darnley’s alleged murderer, led to her imprisonment in Lochleven Castle where she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son James VI. The picture shows Mary signing her abdication in 1567.  She escaped from Lochleven, but her arym was defeated at Langside and Mary fled to England, where after nineteen years imprisonment, she was beheaded at Fortheringay.