Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

(1542–1587), the daughter of

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

and

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

, was crowned as Queen of Scotland in the Chapel Royal at

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...

on 9 September 1543.

Background

Mary's father, James V, died in December 1542 six days after Mary's birth.

James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

, was appointed

Regent of Scotland A regent is a person selected to act as head of state (ruling or not) because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. The following is a list of regents throughout history. Regents in extant monarchies Those who held a regency b ...

to rule on her behalf. Mary and her mother remained at

Linlithgow Palace The ruins of Linlithgow Palace are located in the town of Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland, west of Edinburgh. The palace was one of the principal residences of the monarchs of Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland in the 15th and 16th ce ...

. Arran's rule and his policies, especially his pursuit of an English alliance, were challenged by Cardinal Beaton. It was planned to move Mary to Stirling Castle. First, a standoff between the two factions was settled by mediation at

Kirkliston Kirkliston is a village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, historically within the county of West Lothian but now within the City of Edinburgh council area limits. It lies on high ground immediately north of a northward loop of the ...

. Mary came to Stirling on 27 July 1543.

Coronation at Stirling Castle

Only a little is known of the ceremony and celebrations at Stirling Castle. A few details of the preparations are known from the household books of Mary of Guise, which mention some food for the day and the preparation and cleaning of silverware. An English diplomat,

Ralph Sadler Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir PC, Knight banneret (1507 – 30 March 1587) was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII as Privy Councillor, Secretary of State and ambassador to Scotland. Sadler went on to serve Edward VI. Having signed the ...

, who was following events in Scotland suggested the ceremony was not very costly. The English herald Henry Ray was his representative at the event. According to reports sent to William Parr and a later narrative by Mary's secretary

Claude Nau Claude Nau or Claude Nau de la Boisseliere (d. 1605) was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England from 1575 to 1586. He was involved in coding Mary's letters with cipher keys. Career Nau was a successful lawyer practicing in Par ...

, in the coronation procession, Regent Arran held the crown, the

Earl of Lennox The Earl or Mormaer of Lennox was the ruler of the region of the Lennox in western Scotland. It was first created in the 12th century for David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and later held by the Stewart dynasty. Ancient earls The first e ...

held the sceptre, and Campbell of Argyll held the sword of estate. The role played by Mary of Guise was not recorded, but she may have appeared in her own coronation robes. The crown jewels used in the coronation ritual (which survive) are known as the

Honours of Scotland The Honours of Scotland (, ), informally known as the Scottish Crown Jewels, are the regalia that were worn by List of Scottish monarchs, Scottish monarchs at their Coronation_of_the_British_monarch#Scottish_coronations, coronation. Kept in the ...

. According to the Scottish chronicle writer,

Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie (also Lindesay or Lyndsay; c. 1532–1580) was a Scottish chronicler, author of ''The Historie and Chronicles of Scotland, 1436–1565'', the first history of Scotland to be composed in Scots rather than Lat ...

, there were pageants and dancing at the castle. Pitscottie mistakenly dates the event to 20 August, writing that the Scottish nobility came to Stirling to celebrate the coronation of the young queen and danced with the French ladies in waiting, they:

convenit with the young quein with gret solempnitie, trieumphe, plays, phrassis arces, comedies and bankatting and greit danceing befor the quene ary of Guisewith greit lordis and Frinche ladyis.Aeneas Mackay
''Historie and cronicles of Scotland'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, SHS, 1899), p. 15
/ref>

References

{{Coronation of the British monarch, state=collapsed Coronation Mary, Queen of Scots 1543 in Scotland Scottish monarchy