The last letter of Mary Queen of Scots has went on display in Edinburgh, Scotland. The last letter of Mary Queen of Scots has been put on display to mark the anniversary of her death. The anniversary of the death of Mary Queen of Scots was on the 8th of February. Mary Queen of Scots died on the 8th of February 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle, in Northamptonshire. Fotheringhay Castle was also the birth place of Richard III. Today the castle largely doesn't exist. What remains of the castle now is just a few earthworks, nothing more. Largely Fotheringhay Castle is gone. Fotheringhay Castle was dismantled in the 1630s. Today is remains a protected historical site, which is open to the public. A modern picture of Fotheringhay Castle below....
Mary also wrote her last letter at Fotheringhay Castle; the letter which has just went on display.
The last letter of Mary Queen of Scots was written just six hours before her execution. It is a letter which is now 430 years old. As the letter is very old, it is fragile and therefore is not on display all the time. It was on display from 10am until 7pm on Wednesday. The last time it was on display was in 2009. The letter was written by Mary Queen of Scots on the 8th of February 1587 at 2am. The letter was addressed to King Henry II of France. In the letter, Mary Queen of Scots wrote: ''Sire, my brother-in-law, having by God's will, for my sins I think, thrown myself into the power of the Queen my cousin, at whose hands I have suffered much for almost twenty years, I have finally been condemned to death by her and her Estates. I have asked for my papers, which they have taken away, in order that I might make my will, but I have been unable to recover anything of use to me, or even get leave either to make my will freely or to have my body conveyed after my death, as I would wish, to your kingdom where I had the honour to be queen, your sister and old ally.
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The letter tells us a few things about Mary Queen of Scots and her time imprisoned. She tells us that she was poorly treated in England, especially by Queen Elizabeth I. Mary Queen of Scots also believes (from this letter) that she was being executed for her Catholic religion. Her Catholic religion certainly played a part in her downfall, but more so while in Scotland than in England.
Interestingly Mary Queen of Scots writes that she is ''innocent of any crime'', even though there is physical evidence, a hand written letter by her to show that she plotted the downfall of Elizabeth I. In Mary's eyes, did she think that this was not a crime? Probably. More to the point, does it suggest that she lacked any self-awareness of her own behavior which became an instrumental reason for her execution, perhaps.
It's impossible to really know what Mary Queen of Scots was really thinking in the last hours of her life.
One last thing which is very interesting about this letter is in whom it is addressed to. It is partially addressed to her son. But interestingly her final address was not to Scotland, but to France. It gives us an indication of where her heart really lay. Not in Scotland, but in France.
There are several good reasons for this too. Mary Queen of Scots was more French, than Scottish. She grew up in France, not Scotland. She spent more of her time in France, than in Scotland. In fact, she barely lived in Scotland - she also spent more time living captive in England, than in Scotland.
Perhaps Mary became bitter about Scotland. The way that she was forced to flee her homeland and wasn't very welcome by the nobility of Scotland when she returned.
In the final hours of a persons life perhaps shows us what they truly hold dear to them. From Mary Queen of Scots final letter, what she seems to have held most dear was: her son, her religion and France.
http://digital.nls.uk/mqs/trans1.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-38907013
https://stv.tv/news/east-central/1380224-last-letter-of-mary-queen-of-scots-goes-on-display-in-edinburgh/
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