Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart was born in December 1542. Her father was King James V of Scotland and her mother was a French Princess called Mary of Guise. Mary’s father died of battle injuries just after Mary was born. This meant that Mary became Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old. She was known as Mary Queen of Scots.

Scotland was a difficult country to rule at this time. There were two types of Christians - Catholics and Protestants and they were fighting about who should be in charge. Many noble men were also arguing about who should have the power. The Queen was a baby, so a regent was needed. A regent is an adult who looks after the country for a child King or Queen until they are old enough to take over. Mary of Guise wanted to be regent for Queen Mary but instead, a man called the Earl of Arran was chosen. He was a distant relative of Queen Mary and he wanted to be King himself!

Henry VIII was King of England but he wanted to rule Scotland too. He spent years invading the country, but had not had a victory yet. When Mary was born, he decided that his five year old son called Prince Edward, should marry Mary so that the two countries would be ruled by him. However, the King of France wanted Mary to marry his son as well. Henry invaded Scotland again to take the young child to make sure that this didn’t happen.

Mary’s mother tried to protect the young Queen by hiding her in different castles. After five years, she eventually asked the King of France for help. He arranged for Mary to travel to France where she would be safe from Henry VIII, but as part of the agreement, Mary had to marry his son instead. Mary of Guise agreed. Queen Mary travelled with four of her friends, who were also all called Mary, to look after her whilst her mother stayed to help rule Scotland. The young Queen Mary never saw her mother again.

When Mary arrived, she was welcomed by the French people. At the age of fifteen, Mary married the heir to the French throne at Notre Dame Cathedral, wearing a long train and a golden crown. She had grown into a beautiful, intelligent young woman who was now Queen of Scotland and heir to the throne in France. Unfortunately for Mary, one year later the King of France died unexpectedly. This meant Mary and her new husband became the King and Queen of France.

To make things worse, the next year Mary’s mother died in Scotland and then later that year Mary’s husband also died. Mary was very lonely and sad and was not allowed to rule France without her husband. A new French King was crowned and Mary decided to return to Scotland to rule there instead.

Most Scottish people cheered on the streets when Queen Mary returned, but some were not pleased to see her. Since she had left Scotland, it had become a protestant country, and Mary was a Catholic Queen. The Scottish lords were powerful and jealous of each other and did not help Mary rule. Mary had a half-brother, who did help her, so she made him the Earl of Moray. This made things better, but Mary knew she needed a husband to help her - then she would have an heir to her throne.

Queen Elizabeth was now Queen of England, and offered to help Mary find a husband, but Mary chose someone else instead. He was an English man called Lord Darnley who was related to Elizabeth. This made Elizabeth angry and made her think Queen Mary and Lord Darnley wanted to have a child who would rule England too.

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© Classroom Secrets Limited 2015 Comprehension – Mary Queen of Scots – 3a – Tricky Mary’s new husband, Lord Darnley, was not popular with the Scottish people and he turned out to be a greedy and lazy ruler. Whilst Mary was pregnant, he was cruel to her and was determined to take over as King. One night, he broke into her room and held her back whilst his friends stabbed her private secretary, a man called Riccio, to death. Mary was upset as she had liked her secretary a lot. The Scottish Lords were also angry at him, but Mary decided the next morning to forgive him. They moved to Edinburgh Castle in secret. At this time Mary also hired a man called Lord Bothwell who she had known in France, she thought they were friends but everyone else thought that he was in love with the her.

At Edinburgh Castle Mary gave birth to a baby boy and named him James after her father. When Lord Darnley did not attend his son’s christening, Mary wrote to the Earl of Moray saying that she wanted to divorce her husband. Soon afterwards, there was an explosion at Darnley’s home and he and his servant were found mysteriously strangled to death.

People blamed Lord Bothwell for their murder because he was in love with Mary and wanted to marry her. Mary did not hold an investigation and the Scottish people became angry with the Queen when Bothwell was not punished. Mary did not seem to care and carried on spending time with Lord Bothwell anyway.

A few months later Queen Mary and Lord Bothwell were on their way home from visiting the young Prince James when Bothwell kidnapped the Queen. He forced her to marry him in secret. Mary felt betrayed by her friend, and the Lords of Scotland were furious with Bothwell and Queen Mary when they found out. They and raised an Army to capture and punish Bothwell.

The Army marched to where the Queen and Bothwell were staying, but their plan failed. Mary and Bothwell both managed to escape and met up again later. The Queen began to raise an Army herself to fight the Lords. When the Lords’ Army caught up with her, they demanded that if she wanted to stay as Queen then Bothwell would have to leave Scotland. Queen Mary persuaded him to flee and he ran away to Denmark. Queen Mary followed the Lords to Edinburgh, believing that she was still their Queen.

When Mary reached Edinburgh she realised that she had been tricked. She was no longer the Queen, but the Lords’ prisoner. They locked her up on a remote island in the damp and cold Loch Leven Castle. Mary was now pregnant with twins, but when she gave birth in the damp and cold castle, they both died. Mary herself became very sick and eventually signed papers that meant her one year old son, Prince James, would now be King James VI of Scotland.

Whilst in prison Mary was allowed a lady in waiting. She chose a woman called Mary Seton who was one of the four Maries who had travelled with the Queen to France when she was a child. Mary also made two friends in Loch Leven Castle and together, they helped Mary escape. Her first attempt failed and she was recognised, but her second attempt was successful. She ran away from the island and led an Army of her followers determined to take back her throne.

Because King James VI was a few years old, Mary’s half-brother was acting as regent (just like the Earl of Arran had for her) until he was old enough to take over. Mary led her Army to where her half-brother was staying and the two sides fought. Just before the fight started, one of Mary’s Generals fainted. This meant that her Army was unorganised and she eventually lost the battle. Some people said that the General fainted on purpose and was actually working against the Queen. After the battle Mary ran away to England, planning to ask Queen Elizabeth for help.

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© Classroom Secrets Limited 2015 Comprehension – Mary Queen of Scots – 3a – Tricky Queen Elizabeth was still worried that Queen Mary also wanted to rule England. She sent hundreds of soldiers to meet Mary when she landed on the coast to stop her escaping. Elizabeth also thought that Mary knew about the plot to kill her husband, Lord Darnley, who was a relative of Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth would not help Mary and instead put her in prison with Mary Seton.

For the next nineteen years, Queen Mary was Elizabeth’s prisoner whilst Mary Seton stayed with her. Queen Mary spent her time planning to escape, and wrote to English Catholics asking for their help in making her the Queen of England. These escapes were always discovered and in the end she was forbidden from writing letters. Queen Elizabeth also gave one of her men the job of spy master to find out who she was writing to. Mary hoped that her son, King James VI would come to help her, but he had been raised by the Earl of Moray, who had convinced him that his mother was evil and untrustworthy.

In 1586 Queen Mary learned that her son, King James VI had signed a peace treaty with England which meant he would become King of England when Elizabeth died. She realised he was never going to set her free and set about plotting to escape and kill Queen Elizabeth for the last time. She wrote to an English Catholic, called Lord Babington. She did not know that Elizabeth’s spy master had already been reading her secret letters and found this one as well. Now he had cold hard proof that the Scottish Queen was guilty of treason.

Mary Queen of Scots was charged with the attempted treason of the Queen of England and was executed in 1587. Her son King James VI of Scotland also became King of England in 1603.

Megan Dunsby

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© Classroom Secrets Limited 2015 Comprehension – Mary Queen of Scots – 3a – Tricky Mary Queen of Scots

1. In what year was Mary Stuart born? (AF2)

2. Loch Leven Castle is described as ______and ______. (AF2)

3. Can you think of another adjective to describe how you imagine Loch Leven Castle to be? (AF3/AF5)

4. Match the following quotes in the text with what they tell us about Queen Mary. (AF3) ‘Queen Mary spent her time planning to escape.’ popular ‘Scottish people cheered on the streets when Queen Mary returned’ scheming

5. Whereabouts in the text would you find information about Mary’s birth? (AF4)

6. Match the following words with their meanings. (AF2) regent another word for fight battle a person who rules a kingdom for a young King or Queen. determined an agreement flee an army officer in charge of a group of soldiers General will do anything to achieve something treason a secret plan to do something illegal treaty to run away plot killing or over throwing the King or Queen

6. Do you think the explosion at Lord Darnley’s home was an accident? Why or why not? (AF3)

7. How do you think Queen Mary felt about her son when she was in prison in England? (AF3)

8. Can you think of any other people who were executed by an English king or queen? (AF7)

9. How were King James V and King James VI related? (AF3)

10. Why was Mary Stuart heir to the throne when she was born? (AF7)

11. How many times was Mary married? (AF2)

12. How do you think Lord Bothwell felt at having to leave Scotland? (AF3)

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© Classroom Secrets Limited 2015 Comprehension – Mary Queen of Scots– 3a – Tricky Mary Queen of Scots 1. In what year was Mary Stuart born? (AF2) 1542

2. Loch Leven Castle is described as cold and damp. (AF2)

3. Can you think of another adjective to describe how you imagine Loch Leven Castle to be? (AF3/AF5) Dark, wet, windy, lonely, etc. 4. Match the following quotes in the text with what they tell us about Queen Mary. (AF3) ‘Queen Mary spent her time planning to escape.’ popular ‘Scottish people cheered on the streets when Queen Mary returned’ scheming

5. Whereabouts in the text would you find information about Mary’s birth? (AF4) At the beginning as the text is in time order. 6. Match the following words with their meanings. (AF2) regent another word for fight battle a person who rules a kingdom for a young King or Queen. determined an agreement flee an army officer in charge of a group of soldiers General will do anything to achieve something treason a secret plan to do something illegal treaty to run away plot killing or over throwing the King or Queen

6. Do you think the explosion at Lord Darnley’s home was an accident? Why or why not? (AF3) Various answers if justified. 7. How do you think Queen Mary felt about her son when she was in prison in England? (AF3) Various answers if justified. 8. Can you think of any other people who were executed by an English King or Queen? (AF7) Various answers: Guy Fawkes, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard etc.

9. How were King James V and King James VI related? (AF3) Grandfather and Grandson. 10. Why was Mary Stuart heir to the throne when she was born? (AF7) Because she was the only child of the King and Queen.

11. How many times was Mary married? (AF2) Three times.

12. How do you think Lord Bothwell felt at having to leave Scotland? Why? (AF3) Various answers if

justified.

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© Classroom Secrets Limited 2015 Comprehension – Mary Queen of Scots – 3a – Tricky ANSWERS