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| Tomb Effigy of Mary Queen of Scots |
Mary became the Queen of Scotland when she was six days old and her father died. When she was only six months old, Henry VIII tried to propose a treaty with Scotland that would wed Mary to his son Edward. Some of the Regents left in charge of Scotland didn't like this idea and, eventually, Mary was sent to France. It was in France that she was raised with the Prince Dauphin and they married when she was sixteen (and he was fifteen).
France and England don't like each other. Catholics and Protestants don't like each other. This is not the environment to create a close familial relationship. By the time Mary returned to Scotland at age 18 -- newly widowed -- she had her ambition set on Elizabeth's throne. In four years' time, she married a cousin, Henry Stuart. It wasn't a happy marriage, but it did result in a male heir to her throne. Within three years' time, Henry's home went boom and he was murdered in the garden. His accused murderer was James Hepburn who was acquitted -- and then married Mary a month after his release.
This resulted in an uprising and Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her one year old son, James.
All of this happened before the age of 25... One would think that she would have been tired. She was not and, thus, the plot to murder her cousin so she could take the English throne. I have nothing against ambition ... but.
Begs the question, "Would she have kept her head if she'd followed her cousin's lead and just not married?" My answer would be "yes". For women of that time -- even queens -- were just vessels to be used by men. Of course France wanted to be married to an heir of the English throne. Lord Darnley and James Hepburn? What could be better than be King and have your wife do all the work? I know that's cynical, but Elizabeth summed it up:
"I do not want a husband who honours me as a queen if he does not love me as a woman."
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