Proud Mary

Yet their destinies could not be more intertwined… Born in Scotland to King James V of Scotland and his French wife, Marie de Guise, Queen Mary Stuart knew from a very young age: she was born to rule. And she would do so with pride and passion; riding out at the head of her army in both victory and defeat, playing high-stake games, both in politics and love. Mary’s greatest obsession was the English throne, and, convinced she was the rightful heir, refused to give up fighting for it, even after imprisonment by her cousin and rival queen Elizabeth I. When Mary met the guillotine at only 44 years old, she proudly wore a blazing red petticoat, the symbol of a Catholic martyr. ‘In the End is My Beginning’ had been her life motto, and indeed, barely 15 years later, Mary Stuart’s son James would succeed Queen Elizabeth and become King of England. Mary Queen of Scots had lived and died, knowing she would have the last laugh: with her head held high.