Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley

alison weir

On the night of 10 February 1567 an explosion devastated the Edinburgh residence of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. The noise was heard as far away as Holyrood Palace, where Queen Mary was attending a wedding masque. Those arriving at the scene of devastation found, in the garden, the naked corpses of Darnley and his valet. Neither had died in the explosion, but both bodies bore marks of strangulation.

It was clear that they had been murdered and the house destroyed in an attempt to obliterate the evidence. Darnley was not a popular king-consort, but he was regarded by many as having a valid claim to the English throne. For this reason Elizabeth I had opposed his family's longstanding wish to marry him to Mary Stuart, who herself claimed to be the rightful queen of England.

Alison Weir's investigation of Darnley's murder is set against one of the most dramatic periods in British history. Her conclusions shed a brilliant new light on the actions and motives of the conspirators and, in particular, the extent of Mary's own involvement.

Genres historynonfictionbiographyhistoricalscotlandtudor periodtrue crimebritish literature16th centuryeuropean history

640 pages, Paperback

First published April 1,2003

Places

scotland,

This edition

Format: 640 pages, Paperback
Published: January 1, 2004 by Pimlico
ISBN: 9780712664561
ASIN: 0712664564
Language: English

Characters More characters

Henry Stuart Lord Darnley

Henry Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany (1545 - 1567), commonly known as Lord Darnley, was a Prince Consort of Scotland, the first cousin and second husband of Mary I, Queen of Scots, and the father of her son King James VI, who also succeeded Queen Elizabeth I ...
Mary Queen Of Scots

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Margaret Douglas Countess Of Lennox

Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (1515 - 1578) was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. In her youth she was high in the favour of her uncle, Henry VIII of England, but ...