| Miniature portrait of Mary, queen of Scots, c1575, by an unknown artist. If you would like to look at Scottish royal genealogy, click here. Read Mary's last letter, an eyewitness account of her execution in 1587, and other documents relating to her life at Primary Sources. Elizabeth I wrote a letter to Mary at her trial, and about the execution to Mary's son, King James VI. Read her letters here. Portraits of Mary, her parents, husbands and child, with commentary, can be found at the Tudor England: Images site. If you are interested in further research, The Catholic Encyclopedia features an article on Mary's life. Encyclopedia Britannica also has an article about Mary. And the most comprehensive website about the Scottish queen is maintained by The Marie Stuart Society of Scotland. |

> > > > 1542
> > > > 8 December; Mary Stuart is born at Linlithgow Palace
> > > > 14 December; James V, King of Scots, Mary's father, dies at 31

> > > > 1543
> > > > Mary crowned Queen of Scots

> > > > 1546
> > > > Cardinal Beaton is murdered; ascendancy of pro-French party

> > > > 1547
> > > > January; King Henry VIII of England dies
> > > > March; King Francis I of France dies
> > > > 10 September; battle of Pinkie; Scots defeated by English forces led by duke of Somerset; new French king, Henry II, sends troops and money to Scotland; Mary is betrothed to Henry II's heir Francis, dauphin of France

> > > > 1548
> > > > August; Mary sent to France

> > > > 1550
> > > > Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, visits her in France

> > > > 1554
> > > > Mary of Guise is officially named Regent in Scotland

> > > > 1558
> > > > Fifteen-year-old Mary marries the 14-year-old Francis, dauphin of France, in Paris
> > > > Queen Mary I of England dies and Elizabeth Tudor becomes Queen
> > > > Mary's father-in-law quarters her arms with those of England, offending Elizabeth

> > > > 1559
> > > > Death of King Henry II of France; Francis and Mary are crowned king and queen of France

> > > > 1560
> > > > June; Mary of Guise passes away in Scotland
> > > > December; Mary's husband, Francis, Mary's husband, passes away

> > > > 1561
> > > > Mary returns to Scotland

> > > > 1562 Northern campaign and visit to Inverness; aged 19

> > > > 1563 Mary visits Inveraray,Dunure Castle, Dumfries, and Peebles; aged 20

> > > > 1564 Mary hunts near Blair Atholl, Tayside; aged 21

> > > > 1565 Mary marries her 19-year-old cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley; aged 22

> > > > 1566 Mary's Piedmontese secretary, David Riccio/Rizzio, is murdered; Mary's only child born (James, later king of Scotland and England); aged 23

> > > > 1567 Mary's husband, Lord Darnley, murdered; Mary weds James Hepburn, the 30-year-old Earl of Bothwell; the Carberry Hill confrontation; Mary is imprisoned at Lochleven Castle; Mary's one-year-old son James is crowned as James VI of Scotland; aged 24

> > > > 1568 Mary escapes from Lochleven Castle; Battle of Langside, Glasgow; Mary flees to England; aged 25

> > > > 1568-87 Mary is held captive in various English prisons; aged 25-44

> > > > 1569 Elizabeth exonerates Mary from the charges made against her; aged 26

> > > > 1578 Mary's third husband, the earl of Bothwell (age 41), dies in a prison in Denmark; aged 35

> > > > 1580 Mary writes Essay on Adversity in prison; aged 37

> > > > 1586 Mary is tried for conspiring to kill Elizabeth; aged 43

> > > > 1587 on 8 February, Mary is executed in the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire

> > > > 1603 Queen Elizabeth I dies in March & Mary's only child, James VI of Scotland, becomes James I of England. He is the first King of both Scotland and England. He moves his mother's body to Westminster Abbey and has a grand monument built.

> > > Read the biography of Mary, queen of Scots.

> > > to Mary, queen of Scots main page

> > > to Tudor Relatives
> > > to Tudor England