Click2Biography - Mary Queen of Scots - Chapter 3

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 3 - PALACE INTRIGUES</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">By this time, Princess Elizabeth had become <a ; target="_blank" href="http://renaissance-faire.com/Renfaires/Entertainment/queen2.JPG"><b>Queen Elizabeth I</b></a>. Although she was the daughter of Henry VIII, many people - including most Catholics - thought Elizabeth was not the rightful heir to the throne. As the daughter of the discredited, beheaded <a ; target="_blank" href="http://www.geocities.com/anne_boleyn13/"><b>Anne Boleyn</b></a>, Elizabeth was thought to be illegitimate.</p> <p align="justify">To strengthen her claim to the English throne, Mary decided to marry her cousin, <a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~zzz12/darn.htm" ; target="_blank"><b>Lord Darnley</b></a> (Henry Stuart) who himself was an heir to the English throne. Mary and Darnley married (this is their <a ; target="_blank" href="http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/mqscots"><b>marriage certificate</b></a>), but the strategic alliance carried a high price. Darnley was no Francis. The marriage was extremely unhappy.</p> <p align="justify">Notwithstanding all of his own scheming and philandering, Darnley was a jealous husband. When he thought Mary was having an affair with her secretary, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nwlink.com/~scotlass/riccio_small.jpg"><b>David Rizzio</b></a>, Darnley engineered Rizzio's murder. Not content to just kill him, Darnley and his compatriots stormed into <a ; target="_blank" href="http://www.royalresidences.com/Holyrood.htm"><b>Mary's private quarters</b></a> at Holyroodhouse and killed Rizzio in her presence. Even though Mary was expecting Darnley's child, a son, the marriage was doomed from that point forward. Perhaps it had been doomed all along.</p> <p align="justify">Darnley was ill with syphilis. He was murdered within two years. Many people pointed to Mary as the engineer of the plot to kill Darnley. Since her current lover - and later husband - James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, was accused of planning Darnley's death, circumstantial evidence against Mary initially seemed strong. </p> <p align="justify">But as the investigation continued, there was no solid evidence against Mary, Queen of Scots. Not - that is - until someone found a small, <a ; target="_blank" href="http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/images/casket_small.jpg"><b>silver casket</b></a> containing letters ostensibly written by Mary. Those letters seemed to point a guilty finger in her direction. Even though the letters were alleged to be forgeries, many people continued to believe she had ordered Darnley's death. And, even after a trial formally cleared Bothwell, most folks continued to believe he was the one behind Darnley's murder. </p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="maryq_ch2.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="maryq_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="maryq_ch4.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>