Mary, Queen of Scots

“I am adventure. In my name men have traversed the highways, the byways, the skyways of the world. I have tramped through jungles with explorers. I have crossed the wilderness frontiers on horseback and covered wagon. I am the fire that burns in the heart of youth that makes men dream and dare and conquer. I am Dangerously Yours…”

”Come follow me to the Scotland of the 16th century when Mary Queen of Scots was 23 years old and one of the most beautiful women in the world and a man came storming in to her court and in to her heart, Bothwell Of Scotland…”

Mary Stuart, who was named Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old, is the last Roman Catholic ruler of Scotland. At the age of 23, the Lord Bothwell arrives in Scotland at the Queen's court, and so begins the love hate relationship between them. She is later imprisoned by her cousin Elizabeth Tudor, the English Queen and her arch adversary. Nineteen years later the life of Mary is to be ended on the scaffold and with her execution the last threat to Elizabeth's throne has been removed. The two Queens with their contrasting personalities make a dramatic counterpoint to history.

One of the strangest dramas in history, is that of Charles IX and the diamond charm given to him by Mary, Queen of Scots. After the death of his brother, Charles inherited the throne of France. But Charles was a weakling, dominated by his mother, the treacherous Catherine de' Medici, whose secret desire was to rule through her son not only France, but Scotland aswell. In order to do this, Catherine must get rid of Mary, the beautiful Scottish queen, now residing at the French court. But the powerful Duke de Guise is Mary's uncle and guardian and so Catherine plots to first destroy her uncle and then the little queen herself.

This is the true story of Mary Stuart who was queen of Scotland, queen of France, and missed by a whisper being queen of England. The story is told by Mary on the eve of her execution (Februaruy 1587) at the hands of her cousin Queen Elizabeth the 1st of England. The story tells of the loss of her husband King of France, the hate of her husband Lord Darnley, her love for the Earl of Bothwell and her execution in England for treason.

Chosen as his favorite story by: Bing Crosby

Mary, Queen of Scots is perhaps the best known figure in Scotland’s royal history. Her life provided tragedy and romance, and was more dramatic than any legend. Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I in 1586, and was beheaded the following year at Fotheringhay Castle.

The captivity of Mary, Queen of Scots, did not bring peace to Elizabeth. The pope declared the English queen an heretic, and ordered her subjects to refuse obedience to her. Many of the English lords were friendly towards Mary, and the Duke of Norfolk had wanted to marry her and share her claim to the English thrown. Plot after plot was formed to release Mary of Scotland and to slay Elizabeth, until one such plot was discovered to involve Mary herself. She was tried for treason, and sentenced to death...

During the whole of Elizabeth's reign, the disturbing element in English politics had been the question of the succession to the throne. This was finally settled by the Queen on her death bed, when she proclaimed James VI of Scotland her heir and successor. In 1603, James, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, ascended the throne of England - the first of the Stuart kings.

Elizabeth was born in Greenwich Palace on September 7th 1533. From her father, Henry VIII, she inherited great physical strength, a fiery temper, coarseness and cruelty, and to Anne Boleyn her mother, may be attribute the undoubted feminine charms she displayed when it suited her capricious temperament to do so. The people weary of the barbarities of Mary's reign, looked with hope towards their new sovereign.