Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587) spent most of her childhood in France while Scotland was ruled by regents. 

 

In 1558, she married the Dauphin of France, Francis. On his premature death in 1560 , she returned to Scotland and political and religious intrigues driven by the protestant firebrand, John Knox and the Scottish nobles.

 

Four years later she married her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. In June 1566, they had a son, James.

 

After Darnley's murder in 1567, she married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was implicated in Darnley's death which caused the nobles to rise against them. Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle and forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son (who became James VI of Scotland and later also James I of England, succeeding Elizabeth I).

 

After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, she fled to England, naively expecting shelter from a fellow monarch. However, with a stronger claim to the English throne than Elizabeth I and a catholic rival to the protestants in power, Mary was instead imprisoned and after eighteen years in harsh captivity, was beheaded on trumped up charges at Fotheringhay Castle..