Royal Liaison · Edinburgh, Midlothian
Palace of Holyroodhouse (Mary & Darnley's marriage)
Five months after the lightning-strike meeting at Wemyss, Mary married her tall lute-player in the chapel royal at Holyrood — against her advisers, her cousin Elizabeth and, soon enough, her own better judgement. The passion was real; the marriage was a catastrophe conducted in a palace.
The story
Mary married Darnley in the Chapel Royal here on 29 July 1565. It went wrong fast. Darnley wanted the Crown Matrimonial — real kingship, and the throne for himself if Mary died first — and she refused. Infatuation soured into a constitutional standoff.
Then came his jealousy of David Rizzio, Mary's Italian secretary and confidant. On 9 March 1566, Darnley and a band of armed men seized Rizzio from a small supper room off the Queen's bedchamber and killed him — while Mary, six months pregnant with the future James VI, was held back. It was a political killing staged in front of a pregnant queen, as much to control her as to remove him.
You can still see the supper room and Mary's chambers in the palace's oldest tower. You may also be shown a "bloodstain" said to be Rizzio's. It isn't. The Royal Collection Trust records how the legend grew to satisfy visitors from the eighteenth century on; the floorboards were largely replaced long afterwards, and the stain has been quietly topped up over the years. The real story — a terrified, defiant queen who saved herself and her unborn son — needs no help.
More stories at this spot
Sources
- Royal Collection Trust
- Historic Environment Scotland (blog, "When Mary met Darnley")
- Royal Collection Trust (Mary, Queen of Scots)
- Wikisource, Dictionary of National Biography (Stewart, Henry)
- Historic Environment Scotland portal (Wemyss Castle, LB16709)
- Royal Collection Trust (The murder of David Rizzio)
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Documented historySpotted an error, or hold a better source? Write to marquis@marquisdemayfair.com — corrections are made, never defended. Our methodology.