Mary Queen of Scotland & the Isles
by Margaret George
Imagine what it would be like to be crowned a
Queen when you are only 8 days old, your cousin is the most powerful monarch in
the world and you are next in line to succeed her. Sounds great right? This was
the reality for Mary Stuart – better known today as Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mary Queen of Scotland & the Isles, by Margaret George, is a
story based on Mary’s life from her birth in 1542 until her death in 1587. Although
the book is technically fiction, it is deeply rooted in historical fact. The
lives of the Stuart monarchs, just like Tudor predecessors, are often more
dramatic and juicy than today’s daytime soap-operas. For clarification on the family lineage, see the images at the bottom of the post for the family tree.
Mary’s father was King James V of Scotland, and
her mother was Marie de Guise – one of the most powerful families in France
during the 16th Century. Mary’s grandmother, Margaret Tudor, was
Henry VIII’s sister which set Mary in line for the English throne since none of
Henry’s own children had provided an heir to the throne. After England raided
Scotland in 1548, the young Mary Stuart was forced to flee for France where she
was raised alongside her betrothed, the Dauphin Francois, according to the Catholic tradition.
Her upbringing was under close watch by the de Guise family. In 1561, she
returned to Scotland which had become a Protestant country under the leadership
of John Knox. Will Mary be able to re-claim her status as Queen of Scotland and
the Isles?
Europe was wrought by religious strife in the
16th Century as the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism
caused bloodshed and political discord. Throughout her life Mary would
be hailed as a saint, denounced as a whore, and ultimately accused of murdering
her second husband, Lord Darnley (Henry Stuart), in order to marry her lover
the Earl of Bothwell (James Hepburn). She was only twenty-five years old when
she was forced to flee her home in Scotland, hoping to find sanctuary in
Elizabeth Tudor’s England. Instead of refuge, Mary found herself accused of
being embroiled in conspiracy until she was ultimately beheaded in 1587.
The novel examines these turbulent times
through the perspective of Mary Stuart, as if you have a way to read what she
thought and how she felt throughout her life. Why did she get married three
times? Was it difficult for her to leave her baby James, the future King of
England and Scotland, to be raised by Protestants? Did she participate in the
plot to murder her baby’s father, Lord Darnley? What was it like to be a
Catholic monarch during a time when almost her entire country was devoted to
Protestantism? How did it feel to know that her own cousin had ordered her
imprisonment, and ultimately, her execution?
Raised among the most privileged
people in the French court, then returned to Scotland to rule as a Catholic
monarch in a strongly Protestant country, then executed after almost 20 years
of imprisonment in Queen Elizabeth’s England, Queen Mary Stuart lived a life
like no other, and Margaret George intertwines the facts into a stunning work
of historical fiction.
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