0:00:08 > 0:00:11- How you doing?- No' bad. - Good day for it, eh?- Aye, lovely.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14- We can go aboard, yeah? - Aye, no problem.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25This is Loch Leven in Perthshire.
0:00:27 > 0:00:34In 1567, it was at the centre of some of the most turbulent events Scotland had ever known.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40On a little island in the middle of the loch, kept as a prisoner, was a young woman.
0:00:43 > 0:00:4824-year-old Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56On their way to the island was a small group of powerful nobles
0:00:56 > 0:00:59intent on stripping the Queen of her crown.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08When the nobles arrived here, they were brandishing documents they wanted Mary to sign
0:01:08 > 0:01:12and they were prepared to use force and threats to her life to get their way.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17They saw themselves as the saviours of Scotland and she was the obstacle in their path.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20But Mary refused to cooperate, because she knew
0:01:20 > 0:01:25that with one scratch of the pen, she would cease to be Queen.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Mary and the nobles held radically different visions of the nation's future.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37And Scotland stood divided.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41From that moment, on this loch, an incredible transformation
0:01:41 > 0:01:45will take place - that will not only see Scotland united,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50but a Scottish king ruling the entire British Isles.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57The ambition of an unconquered nation and its royal family will be the driving force
0:01:57 > 0:02:03that unites two ancient enemies and sets them on the road towards the Great Britain we know today.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06A Scottish takeover of England?
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Who would dare dream of such a thing?
0:02:48 > 0:02:53In 1542, Scotland's fate came to rest on the shoulders
0:02:53 > 0:02:59of a six-day-old girl, when its king, James 5th, died.
0:02:59 > 0:03:05His daughter, Mary Stuart, was the last of the great Scottish royal line -
0:03:05 > 0:03:08a child of glittering dynastic potential.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16And almost immediately, the coveted prize of an English king.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Infant Mary was the solution to a very English problem.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29Henry VIII had fallen out with other countries in Europe, over religion.
0:03:29 > 0:03:35He'd broken with the Catholic Church and now England was vulnerable to invasion.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Henry's worst fear was that a hostile army would be allowed to land in Scotland.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48And from there, launch itself into northern England.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53England's king, Henry VIII, was an arch strategist,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56and he came up with a remarkable course of action.
0:03:56 > 0:04:02He would kill off the threat from the north by marrying the Queen of Scots to his own son.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06And by doing that, Scotland would become part of England.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13A group of Scottish nobles were seduced by Henry's scheme...
0:04:16 > 0:04:20..and even signed a marriage treaty on Mary's behalf.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26But Mary's guardians backed out,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30which brought Scotland and England once again to the brink of war.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Young Mary was forced to run from one castle to another
0:04:41 > 0:04:45as Henry sent soldiers to hunt her down and bring her to him.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55When they couldn't find her, the English generals decided on a new tactic.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Diplomacy on one hand...
0:05:04 > 0:05:06devastation on the other.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14A huge English army invaded southern Scotland.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31The English tried to persuade the Scots that a royal marriage
0:05:31 > 0:05:35to their oldest enemy was in everyone's interests.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40But while the politicians threw away words like "fellowship" and "brotherhood" and "equals",
0:05:40 > 0:05:46the English soldiers were murdering and raping and burning their way across southern Scotland.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Abbeys like Melrose,
0:05:53 > 0:05:59then major commercial and cultural centres, were devastated
0:05:59 > 0:06:03as southern Scotland was brought to its knees.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07But the Scots still wouldn't give up their Queen.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Instead, they looked to Europe for military help
0:06:18 > 0:06:23and called on France - their oldest and most trusted ally.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Now the French king, Henri, entered the fight.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35He would send troops to help the Scots fight off the English.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39But on condition the infant Mary would be betrothed to HIS son, Francois.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49So a new marriage treaty was drawn up for five-year-old Mary,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52promising that she would now one day be Queen of France.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58The French King duly sent an army to fight off the English
0:06:58 > 0:07:03and a boat to spirit his little Scottish Queen to safety.
0:07:04 > 0:07:09And the English scheme to take over Scotland by marriage was dead.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37The magnificent chateaux of the Loire Valley became Mary's refuge
0:07:37 > 0:07:40as she entered the protection of the French royal family.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44And charmed the man who had gone to war for her hand.
0:07:46 > 0:07:51"She is the most perfect child that I have ever seen," he wrote.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Mary was welcomed in here like a long-lost daughter.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59In fact the king, Henri, treated her like one of his own children.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03She lived in the royal nursery alongside the dauphin,
0:08:03 > 0:08:08her future husband, and she received a fantastic Renaissance education -
0:08:08 > 0:08:11literature, rhetoric, as well as music, dancing and sport.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13She was a precious jewel
0:08:13 > 0:08:16and in this setting she shone brightest of all.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Her future husband, Francois, was short and clumsy.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33But Mary was tall, elegant and charming.
0:08:37 > 0:08:44All through her childhood, at court appearances and in private, she impressed her French guardians.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And she was groomed for a glittering future,
0:08:47 > 0:08:53not only in France and Scotland, but potentially beyond.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Mary's veins contained very royal blood -
0:08:59 > 0:09:03blood that gave her a claim to an even bigger prize -
0:09:03 > 0:09:05the Crown of England.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10She was only fourth in line, but Mary's French guardians knew
0:09:10 > 0:09:15where that claim could take them, if fortune smiled their way.
0:09:15 > 0:09:20And that one day, Mary Stuart might just be their key
0:09:20 > 0:09:22to the back door of England.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31Her claim to be a contender for the English throne had always been a long shot.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35But events back across the Channel took a couple of unexpected twists.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38In quick succession, an English king and an English queen,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41both from the House of Tudor, died without leaving heirs.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Suddenly, in 1558, Mary, in French eyes at least,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49became the perfect heir for the English throne.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55There was just one problem...
0:09:57 > 0:09:59..Elizabeth Tudor.
0:09:59 > 0:10:05Henry VIII's illegitimate daughter also now claimed to be Queen of England.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09She had been born just eight months after her parents' wedding.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14And in the eyes of many, she was not only illegitimate as a daughter,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17but would be illegitimate as a queen.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31So, Mary's French family stoked her ambition,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34as she became the vehicle for theirs.
0:10:34 > 0:10:40They encouraged her to dream - that now the Crown of England really could be hers, too.
0:10:43 > 0:10:50If she got it, one single, united empire would stretch from Scotland in the north
0:10:50 > 0:10:51to France in the south.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55This would be a Catholic empire,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59vast and powerful, that would dominate the west of Europe.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Wasn't that what God had in mind for Mary?
0:11:17 > 0:11:22But her rival Elizabeth was English, Protestant and a Tudor.
0:11:24 > 0:11:25So she got the Crown...
0:11:27 > 0:11:32..and Mary's dream of a vast Catholic empire slipped away.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44And soon, even the certainty of her own French crown was under threat.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The Protestant reformation was coming.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55This religious revolution was spreading across Europe,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00promising to sweep away Catholic monarchs like Francois and Mary.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Just a few months into their reign, a group of rebels
0:12:07 > 0:12:11stormed the chateau at Amboise and tried to capture the King.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17So who were the rebels?
0:12:17 > 0:12:20They were Protestants, but they were lords.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22We know their name now.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26And they wanted to plot
0:12:26 > 0:12:30against the royal family and the king, Francois II,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32who was young and weak.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39The revolt failed, and a very public and very bloody example was made of the rebels.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47How much of this would Mary Queen of Scots have seen with her own eyes?
0:12:47 > 0:12:53We know she saw the bodies at the balconies of the chateau, because she was in the chateau.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57It was the first time she was confronted with such a thing.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02- Such violence!- Yes. First time she saw this.- The bodies were hung from here to show the people?
0:13:02 > 0:13:05- Yes, to make an example. - This is what you get.- Yes.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18Just a few months later,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Mary's time as Queen of France came to an abrupt end.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Her young husband, Francois, died of an ear infection,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31leaving Mary a widow
0:13:31 > 0:13:35and a powerless dowager Queen.
0:13:37 > 0:13:43The glittering future that Mary had been brought up to believe in disappeared before her eyes.
0:13:43 > 0:13:50France, the Catholic Empire, life at the centre of the Valois court -
0:13:50 > 0:13:53it was all suddenly over.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01So Mary looked to home.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04But home had changed.
0:14:05 > 0:14:11The reformation that was pitting Protestant against Catholic from France to Holland and beyond,
0:14:11 > 0:14:15had spread to Scotland - with dramatic results -
0:14:15 > 0:14:18and very little bloodshed...so far.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25Swiftly and comprehensively, the Scottish Church had gone over to the new creed.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Life in Scotland was suddenly very different indeed.
0:14:30 > 0:14:36Edinburgh's tiny Magdalen Chapel was where the leaders of that reformation met
0:14:36 > 0:14:38to plan their brave new world.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45And they now wanted to change more than just the Church.
0:14:45 > 0:14:51What was undertaken in this room was the sweeping, all-encompassing reform of Scottish society.
0:14:51 > 0:14:57They started with religion, but they wanted to reach out and touch every part of peoples' lives.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02And of course, it couldn't help but be a direct attack on the power of the monarch.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Mary's most loyal supporters -
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Roman Catholics who had dominated the country in her absence -
0:15:13 > 0:15:15were driven from power,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18as Protestant nobles took control of the country.
0:15:27 > 0:15:32The movement's spiritual leader was a preacher called John Knox.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37He called for those who practised the Catholic Mass to be put to death.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44He even went as far as to claim that Catholic monarchs could be justly deposed.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Catholic monarchs...like Mary.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57When the Scottish nobles heard Mary was coming back, different factions sought her out.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03One Catholic Earl wanted Mary to return as a Catholic figurehead in a war to drive out the Protestants.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Another offer came from her Protestant half brother.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12He wanted Mary to come back and work with the new Protestant regime.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16If she accepted his offer, he promised she could remain a Catholic,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21as long as she kept her religion a secret and only practised her faith in private.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31One August day in 1561, Mary Stuart sailed into Scottish waters.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37She had chosen to work WITH the Protestant regime.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Her ships were almost a week ahead of schedule,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43so there was no welcoming party.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48But a few rounds of the ship's canon promptly assembled a small, curious crowd
0:16:48 > 0:16:52as Scotland's Queen finally came home.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35During Mary's first private Mass on her first Sunday back,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38a mob gathered outside Holyrood to protest.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43They jeered and shouted that they were going to kill the priest, but they couldn't get to Mary.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Eventually, they went away, but the secret of the Queen's private faith was out
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and the truth hung in the air like a bad smell.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58John Knox wouldn't even tolerate Mary's private faith.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03"That one Mass," he said, "was more fearful
0:18:03 > 0:18:07"than if 10,000 armed men were landed in any part of the realm,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10"to suppress the whole Protestant religion."
0:18:12 > 0:18:16From the pulpit of St Giles, he openly preached against her.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Knox was brought before the Queen,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and straight to Mary's face, he questioned her right to rule Scotland.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29Why? First of all she was Catholic and Scotland wasn't. Not any more.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Second, she was a woman.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35But Mary had lived long enough to have seen the realities of religious reformation.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38She was no innocent, so she faced him down.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39Scotland could remain Protestant.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42In private, however, she would remain Catholic.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51No matter how violently Mary and Knox disagreed, there would be no bloodbaths here.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Mary had survived her first crisis
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and now she had the business of ruling to attend to.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Mary began to tour the whole country,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17winning over the powerful regional nobles
0:19:17 > 0:19:20with her beauty and her cultivated charm.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25Rekindling old loyalties that ran deeper than the new religious ties.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Sending a clear signal that she was back...
0:19:30 > 0:19:31and in charge.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37This is a moment from Scottish history that stays with you.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39Mary was back, and she was making a success of it.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41But she'd been Queen all of her life.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45She'd been surrounded by the magnificence of the French court,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49and she'd had her ambitions to be Queen of England inflated and fanned.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52After all that, could she really reconcile herself
0:19:52 > 0:19:55to a life lived here, out on the edge of the world?
0:20:01 > 0:20:05The bigger stage, England, was always on her mind.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10The trouble was, the English already had their leading lady.
0:20:10 > 0:20:16But by 1564, Elizabeth had neither married nor produced an heir.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19So Mary seized the initiative.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34Mary began surveying the field for suitable contenders for marriage.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37But Mary wasn't just looking for a husband,
0:20:37 > 0:20:42she was looking for a stud - to maintain or even improve the bloodline.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47Someone who could finally help her fulfil her dynastic potential.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52First, she investigated Catholic suitors.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Spaniards and French.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59The French one was her dead husband's adolescent brother.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02And the Spanish one promptly lost his mind.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Elizabeth offered her own favourite.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11But eventually Mary settled on something much closer to home -
0:21:11 > 0:21:13an English cousin.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Like her, he's a good dancer.
0:21:16 > 0:21:17A good huntsman.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Tall, good looking and young.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30His name was Henry, Lord Darnley.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32And he was the boy who would be King.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41After a whirlwind romance, Mary and Darnley married.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46And Scotland was poised to have a cocky 19-year-old,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50not just as its Queen's husband, but as its out-and-out King.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53All with Mary's blessing.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57But then something strange happened.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01A clue lies here, in the National Museum of Scotland.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03So what have we here, Nick?
0:22:03 > 0:22:07We have a coin which was struck to commemorate the marriage of
0:22:07 > 0:22:11Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Lord Darnley in July 1565.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15- And that's the happy couple? - Face to face, staring into each other's eyes.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18And the inscription has Henry's name before Mary's.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22So it's Henry and King before Mary and Queen.
0:22:22 > 0:22:23Yes. So I think it was
0:22:23 > 0:22:27probably considered soon after this had gone into circulation,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30that it was conveying an unfortunate message.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34They were withdrawn from circulation rapidly and replaced with a different type.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37- What replaced it? - It was replaced by a different coin.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40The same size, but with a different design on it.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45- Surely that's mysterious - that two coins should replace one another so quickly?- Well,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Mary of course was of higher status than Henry Darnley.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53And the coin would seem to convey that he was at least equal, if not in fact superior status.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58So the new issue was brought out which had Mary's name first,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01making sure that the correct hierarchy was maintained.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05So he's been put in his place by the time the second coin comes out?
0:23:05 > 0:23:07So quite clearly, these two coins
0:23:07 > 0:23:10tell us what we need to know about that relationship.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Well, yes.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17The fact this happened in Scotland so rapidly is an indication of something unusual going on, yes.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Darnley roamed about Edinburgh drunk and debauched,
0:23:25 > 0:23:31mouthing off about not being King and making enemies in the process.
0:23:31 > 0:23:36If Mary had once encouraged him to dream of being King, she now backtracked.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42And well she could, because Darnley had done his job by then -
0:23:42 > 0:23:44he'd made his wife pregnant.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Guns fired across Scotland to salute the future King
0:23:58 > 0:24:04when Mary gave birth to a son, James, on June 19th, 1566.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12A few months later, a lavish party was thrown
0:24:12 > 0:24:17in the great hall of Stirling Castle to celebrate James's baptism.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And it was a major political event.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Mary had ordered a huge round table be set up here -
0:24:26 > 0:24:30to remind the guests of King Arthur, the mythical King of Britain.
0:24:30 > 0:24:36And James was hailed as Little Arthur, the future King of a reunited Britain.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43The visiting English ambassador was suitably offended
0:24:43 > 0:24:48at the Scottish royal family's claim to be the future rulers of the whole British Isles.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52It was a very provocative gesture.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56But it was realistic. Time was running out for Elizabeth.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00She was already in her mid 30s, and it was becoming less and less likely
0:25:00 > 0:25:02that she would ever produce her own heir.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07And if she didn't, or couldn't, where would that leave England?
0:25:07 > 0:25:10Answer - in Scotland's hands.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24Whether Elizabeth liked it or not, baby James would be the next in line.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28So the English Queen now seemed poised to do something remarkable -
0:25:28 > 0:25:34bury the hatchet with Mary and name her son James as the successor to the English throne.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43Until, that is, Mary's poor choice in men came back to haunt her.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51The house where Darnley, Mary's husband, was staying
0:25:51 > 0:25:54was blown up with gunpowder packed into its basement.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56But it wasn't the blast that killed him.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00His body was found some distance away from the scene of the explosion.
0:26:00 > 0:26:06In all likelihood, he was strangled as he tried to flee for his life.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13The Scottish nobles had finally run out of patience with Darnley.
0:26:15 > 0:26:20But some said the blood on their hands was ordained by the Queen herself.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24And Mary's behaviour seemed to prove those suspicions.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29She didn't rush into mourning clothes.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32Nor did she give her husband a state funeral.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37Instead, Darnley's body was dumped at night somewhere in Holyrood Abbey.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43You get a sense of Darnley's tragedy here.
0:26:43 > 0:26:49The story goes that he's buried alongside these other dead, but they have gravestones and he doesn't.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53No-one knows for sure where he was buried and no-one really cares.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Yet he was practically a King of Scotland.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02His sordid death changed everything for Mary.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Elizabeth put a stop to any more talk of her succession.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11Until, that is, Mary could be cleared of any involvement in Darnley's murder.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16But that wasn't about to happen.
0:27:21 > 0:27:26Instead, she married the man most people suspected of carrying out the murder.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30His name was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36There were of course rumours that he kidnapped her, that he raped her,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38that she married him to keep her honour.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42But none of that could alter the fact that from the outside,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47from the point of view of the ministers, the nobles and the mob, it looked bad.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Those factions who had always opposed her, chief among them
0:27:56 > 0:28:01the hard-line Protestants, now rose up against Mary and her power-hungry new husband.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04And Scotland teetered on the point of civil war.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Mary and Bothwell met their opponents outside Edinburgh,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15ready to calm their kingdom with violence.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22But on the battlefield, Mary begged her opponents to avoid bloodshed...
0:28:22 > 0:28:24and to allow Bothwell to escape.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30In return, she offered herself into captivity.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Mary was taken to Lochleven Castle.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48When the nobles came to force her to sign her abdication documents,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51at first, Mary resisted.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57But there was only so long she could put up with the threats to her life.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00So she signed.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04And gave up her power.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06Gave up...her country.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16A few months later, Mary escaped and tried to get it back.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20But it was too late.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22The army that she raised was defeated at Glasgow
0:29:22 > 0:29:27and Mary fled to England, where she threw herself on Elizabeth's mercy.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30But Elizabeth put her back in prison.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40# The Lord shall out of Zion send
0:29:40 > 0:29:44# The rod of Thy great power
0:29:44 > 0:29:50# In midst of all thine enemies... #
0:29:50 > 0:29:55The future of Scotland once again rested on the shoulders of a Stuart infant.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01This is the 110th psalm.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03And it is believed to have been sung
0:30:03 > 0:30:05at the coronation of Mary's son, James,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09here in the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11# ..From morn's womb
0:30:11 > 0:30:15# Thy youth like dew shall be... #
0:30:18 > 0:30:22It was the worst attended Scottish coronation of all time.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24After the psalms came the sermon,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and it was given by the firebrand preacher John Knox himself.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32# And, for this cause, in triumph
0:30:32 > 0:30:41# He shall lift his head on high. #
0:30:43 > 0:30:47It wasn't unusual for an infant to become a king, especially not a Stuart king.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50But there was something momentous about the day
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and it marked a turning point in the history of the nation.
0:30:53 > 0:30:58For the first time, a King of Scotland had been crowned in a Protestant ceremony.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08That ceremony sent a clear signal - when it came to religion,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12Scotland was now firmly on the same Protestant side as England.
0:31:16 > 0:31:22As James grew up, his religious education became the most important project in the land.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Scotland's leading scholar, George Buchanan,
0:31:26 > 0:31:31was brought in to ensure that James was set against his mother's religion for good.
0:31:32 > 0:31:37He had once been a confidant of Mary's, but then he had turned against her.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40And now he had power over her son.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47James and Buchanan spent a lot of their time here at Stirling Castle.
0:31:47 > 0:31:52And through this little door is supposedly the schoolroom where they had all their lessons
0:31:52 > 0:31:56in Latin, history and rhetoric and, of course, lots and lots of Bible lessons.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17You can't help but feel for little James.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20He was here without a mother or a father.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22He was kept away from the people.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25He was almost a captive himself.
0:32:25 > 0:32:30And he wasn't here to do what he wanted - he was here to do what he was told.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38To make matters worse, the man responsible for his education
0:32:38 > 0:32:41was not above inflicting physical punishment.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44After one beating inflicted by Buchanan, James's guardian,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48the Countess of Mar, accused him of going too far.
0:32:48 > 0:32:53Buchanan retorted, "I have whipped his arse, you may kiss it if you want to."
0:32:59 > 0:33:02And just what was his tutor trying to beat into him?
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Something his mother had never fully grasped -
0:33:06 > 0:33:08the limits of royal authority.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34In the new Protestant Scotland, the role of the monarch was under review.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38The will of the people was what mattered now.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42And Buchanan wanted to ensure that James got the message.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46He even wrote a book to help James be the right sort of king.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54Listen to this - it's from George Buchanan's personal note to James VI
0:33:54 > 0:33:57at the start of his book about kingship.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00"I have sent you this book to steer you through the reefs of flattery.
0:34:00 > 0:34:06"It may not only admonish you, but also keep you to the path which you have once embarked upon.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10"And if you should stray from it, rebuke you and drag you back again."
0:34:10 > 0:34:15It's all couched in very affectionate language, but there's no mistaking Buchanan's intent.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19It says to me that he wants to control the young prince.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22In fact, he wants to create a puppet king.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33Buchanan went on to say that if the King caused the people
0:34:33 > 0:34:37to despise or distrust him by reigning like a tyrant,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41the people were perfectly justified in getting rid of him.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52It was meant as a warning, not necessarily as a prediction.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56But just a few years later, James came to understand
0:34:56 > 0:35:00exactly what his teacher had been trying to tell him.
0:35:03 > 0:35:09A group of Protestant nobles lured 16-year-old James to this castle and took him prisoner.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14James's crime?
0:35:16 > 0:35:19He had been keeping dangerous company.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24The company of an older, charismatic French cousin.
0:35:27 > 0:35:31Esme Stuart was the only family James had ever known
0:35:31 > 0:35:34and James had grown bold with him around.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Once-trusted advisors had found themselves sidelined -
0:35:38 > 0:35:40some had even been executed -
0:35:40 > 0:35:44and his cousin had been promoted in their place.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Esme Stuart was two things the Protestant nobles feared most.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52He was French and he had Catholic sympathies.
0:35:52 > 0:35:58Even more worrying, he had an influence, even a power, over young James.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Protestant nobles felt their power slipping.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10And in England, Elizabeth grew worried at developments north of her border.
0:36:12 > 0:36:18So, with her support, Esme Stuart was forced back to France.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24And James came to share his captive mother's fate.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32James stews in captivity, as days turn into weeks,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35turn into months, and into a year.
0:36:35 > 0:36:36He's just a young boy.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41He knows his mother has been imprisoned in England for years, so maybe this is his lot.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46Or perhaps his captors have another, more grisly fate in mind for him.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52But his jailers didn't seem to know what to do with him.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56For the best part of a year they moved him around the country.
0:36:56 > 0:36:58Until, finally...
0:36:58 > 0:37:00James escaped.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10He sought out his loyal supporters and raised an army
0:37:10 > 0:37:14to take on his captors and get his kingdom back.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32A few skirmishes later, James marched into Edinburgh
0:37:32 > 0:37:35and took full control of Scotland.
0:37:38 > 0:37:44And it wasn't long before James showed just what kind of King he intended to be.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46The book of his old tutor, George Buchanan,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50that contained all those ideas of the King's rightful place -
0:37:50 > 0:37:55the book designed to rebuke James and drag him back to the correct path -
0:37:55 > 0:37:57was banned.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01James would be guided, not by the will of the people,
0:38:01 > 0:38:04but by God alone.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06James would be an absolute monarch.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22But what of England? And the Queen who had wanted James jailed?
0:38:30 > 0:38:32Elizabeth was facing war in Europe
0:38:32 > 0:38:36and now she sought an alliance with the Scottish King.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38But James had a price in mind.
0:38:38 > 0:38:43Nothing less than a guarantee that he would be her heir.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Childless Elizabeth guaranteed nothing.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50But she did offer a bond of friendship
0:38:50 > 0:38:54and Little Arthur was almost where he wanted to be.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00But this so-called friendship was about to face its toughest test.
0:39:11 > 0:39:17In her 19th year in Elizabeth's English prison, Mary had grown reckless.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22Almost everything she'd hoped for had been lost -
0:39:22 > 0:39:27the Catholic Empire, power in France, power in Scotland,
0:39:27 > 0:39:28even her liberty.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31So when she received an offer to join up to a murderous plot,
0:39:31 > 0:39:33she said yes.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42The plot was an elaborate one. Mary was to be liberated, Elizabeth was to be executed
0:39:42 > 0:39:45and a Catholic army would land here on the south coast of England.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50They would sweep up through the country to London and secure Mary's position.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53It was nothing less than a plan for a Holy War.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04Mary wrote a letter agreeing to Elizabeth's murder.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06The letter was intercepted.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Mary was tried for treason and sentenced to death.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26James now faced the toughest decision of his life.
0:40:26 > 0:40:31Just how far should he go in pleading for the life of the mother he hadn't seen since he was a baby?
0:40:31 > 0:40:33If was seen to be weak, if he did nothing,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37then the Scottish people themselves might rise in defence of Mary.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41But if he shouted too loudly, and severed his ties with England
0:40:41 > 0:40:47and with Elizabeth, what would that mean for his place, his unspoken place, in the line of succession?
0:40:55 > 0:41:00He sent ambassadors to London with clear, written instructions.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The one, "to deal very earnestly both with the Queen
0:41:03 > 0:41:07"and her counsellors for our sovereign mother's life."
0:41:07 > 0:41:12The other, "that our title to that Crown be not pre-judged."
0:41:12 > 0:41:18In other words, do nothing to jeopardise my claim to the English throne.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25James's next letter begged Elizabeth merely to exile Mary.
0:41:25 > 0:41:31But by then, it was clear that James was not going to make war to save his mother's life.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38# The lion and the unicorn were fighting for the Crown
0:41:38 > 0:41:41# The lion beat the unicorn all around the town
0:41:41 > 0:41:45# Some gave them white bread and some gave them brown
0:41:45 > 0:41:49# Some gave them plum cake and drummed them out of town. #
0:41:49 > 0:41:52The English Royal Coat of Arms bears a lion.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55And the Scottish Coat of Arms bears a unicorn -
0:41:55 > 0:41:58the mythical wild animal that cannot be tamed...
0:42:00 > 0:42:01..except by a virgin.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Now, the Virgin Queen had tamed her troublesome unicorn.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21Mary went to the block dressed as a Catholic martyr
0:42:21 > 0:42:24and still claiming to be the rightful Queen of England.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27Nothing became her in life like her death.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46James expected Elizabeth to reward him for his loyalty,
0:42:46 > 0:42:47but he was in for a shock,
0:42:47 > 0:42:50as again, she refused to officially name him
0:42:50 > 0:42:53as her chosen successor for the English Crown.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57So James set about proving himself as a king...
0:42:57 > 0:42:59in Scotland.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13First, the Stuart line had to be strengthened.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18James chose a wife, Princess Anne of Protestant Denmark,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22who quickly gave birth to an heir, Henry.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25And then she produced a spare, Charles.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Sometimes by force, but more often than not by guile,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35James started to stabilise his turbulent kingdom.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Words were his main weapons and books were his ammunition
0:43:42 > 0:43:45in the constant struggle to stay in control.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51He even sought out copies of books from across the known world.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59- What have we got here, Ian? - Something rather intriguing -
0:43:59 > 0:44:02a translation into Scots
0:44:02 > 0:44:07of Machiavelli's famous treatise on statecraft, The Prince,
0:44:07 > 0:44:11done by William Fowler for his sovereign, James VI.
0:44:11 > 0:44:13And here is the first page.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17"The Prince of Nicholas Machiavelli, secretary and citizen of Florence,
0:44:17 > 0:44:20"translated furth of the Italian tongue."
0:44:20 > 0:44:25Rather nice usage of "furth" - "out of" the Italian tongue.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28What is The Prince all about? What's the essence of Machiavelli's work?
0:44:28 > 0:44:34Power. The getting, keeping, the exercise of power...
0:44:34 > 0:44:39and the use of it for the Prince's ends and for the good of his state.
0:44:45 > 0:44:50Machiavelli's book The Prince has become the most famous book on power in the world.
0:44:50 > 0:44:55It advises kings to act like a fox, as well as a lion, in keeping hold of it.
0:44:55 > 0:44:59Which James did, amazingly well.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03And gradually, he established himself as a king
0:45:03 > 0:45:06who ruled with his head and not with his heart.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09A son who was the opposite of his mother,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12though every bit as ambitious.
0:45:19 > 0:45:24Elizabeth's stubborn refusal to name James as her chosen successor became irrelevant.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28The writing was on the wall for Tudor England.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33And James was the only real contender for the Crown.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37Like his mother, the perfect solution to a very English problem.
0:45:37 > 0:45:42James had already proven himself to be an adept ruler in Scotland.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46He'd succeeded where Mary had failed.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50He was also the right sex and the right religion to rule in England.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55And what's more, he had done something the Tudors had never been very good at -
0:45:55 > 0:45:56he'd produced viable heirs.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01Now, all he had to do was live longer than Elizabeth.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14But Elizabeth lived on and on and on.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23In fact, Elizabeth I lived longer than any English monarch had ever lived before.
0:46:25 > 0:46:31Little Arthur was forced to bide his time and contemplate his master plan
0:46:31 > 0:46:34for when he finally took over in England.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51James was 36 when he received the news
0:46:51 > 0:46:54he'd spent half a lifetime waiting for.
0:46:56 > 0:46:57Elizabeth was dead.
0:46:59 > 0:47:00The Tudors were finished.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04And England needed a king.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09James received the news just three days after the death of Elizabeth.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12The king-makers wanted him to go down south.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16He was to go immediately and directly to the seat of power.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18But James had other ideas.
0:47:18 > 0:47:20For one thing, he was going to take his time.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23For another, he wasn't going to travel light.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27He was going to take his whole entourage - all the pomp and circumstance he could manage.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30This was to be a triumphal tour of the promised land.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44Now, a moment that Scottish kings could only have dreamed of had arrived.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47A Scottish takeover of England was happening...
0:47:49 > 0:47:54..and the moment belonged to a king who had proven himself as a clever and effective ruler.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58One of the most accomplished kings Scotland had ever produced.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10He entered London just a few days after an outbreak of plague.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26Shortly after, he took a barge along the Thames to the Tower,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29where he finally saw the English Crown Jewels
0:48:29 > 0:48:31that now belonged to HIM.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38Put yourself in James's position.
0:48:38 > 0:48:40This was the seat of power
0:48:40 > 0:48:43of his most ancient foe - the enemies of his blood.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47The people who had burned, raped and murdered his forebears,
0:48:47 > 0:48:50who had sought to dominate his nation for 300 years,
0:48:50 > 0:48:55were offering everything they had - throne and crown included - to him.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Imagine what that must have felt like.
0:49:17 > 0:49:21After the grand entrance, the great words of welcome,
0:49:21 > 0:49:24James unveiled his master plan.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28And it went way beyond just being the King of two separate kingdoms.
0:49:28 > 0:49:34Now, according to James, was the chosen moment for a new country to be born.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44James had a crystal-clear vision of the future and his place in it.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46This was to be a Great Britain -
0:49:46 > 0:49:51united under a common religion, common laws and common citizenship.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54He would be at the top - King and Emperor of it all.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00And most crucially, it was to be a union of two equal nations.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04But that was precisely where the problem lay.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18"What's so equal about Scotland and England?" said the English nobility.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23England, they thought, was clearly the superior nation -
0:50:23 > 0:50:26richer, more developed, stronger.
0:50:30 > 0:50:35What benefit would there be in joining with backward and impoverished Scots?
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Yet...a Scot was now their King...
0:50:41 > 0:50:47and he was determined to take his idea of Great Britain to Parliament.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52It didn't exactly go down a storm.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59James was accustomed to getting his own way with Parliament in Scotland.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02He expected unquestioning obedience.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07But the men here would not roll over - certainly not for an upstart Scot.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16Inside Parliament, it quickly became clear that James wasn't about to get his own way.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24And outside Parliament, relations between Scots and English
0:51:24 > 0:51:26were on the point of breaking down.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36James exacerbated the situation by his own actions.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40He began to shower his inner Scottish circle with gifts -
0:51:40 > 0:51:42money, pensions, land.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46English estates were dealt out to Scottish nobles.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54And suddenly, England seemed to be ruled by a clique of very powerful Scots,
0:51:54 > 0:51:59blocking the way of English courtiers and nobles to riches and royal favour.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05Scots in London began to acquire a reputation as being on the make and tightfisted
0:52:05 > 0:52:08and closed ranks around their King.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12Their prominence was to make them a target
0:52:12 > 0:52:15in one of the most spectacular conspiracies in British history.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22One group had come to especially hate James and his expatriate entourage...
0:52:24 > 0:52:28..and decided to take matters into their own hands.
0:52:29 > 0:52:36English Catholics felt the Scottish King had let them down with empty promises of tolerance.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40And so they turned not only against James, but against all Scots in London.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48One of these conspirators was a mercenary called Guy Fawkes.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59The gunpowder was heaped up under the Houses of Parliament.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02But the institution itself was not the target. King James was -
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Protestant, Scottish, King James.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09They later said they had enough gunpowder "to blast him all the way back to Scotland".
0:53:10 > 0:53:15After the plot had been foiled, after Guy Fawkes had been tortured and made his confession,
0:53:15 > 0:53:19it was revealed that the conspirators had detailed maps and plans
0:53:19 > 0:53:23giving the locations of the houses of every prominent Scot in London.
0:53:23 > 0:53:28What they had planned was nothing less than the ethnic cleansing of the whole city.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06James's project for a peaceful, united Britain was in desperate trouble.
0:54:08 > 0:54:14In the absence of meaningful progress, James resorted to symbols, to gestures,
0:54:14 > 0:54:16to flags.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Once James was settled in London, he asked one of his English advisors
0:54:22 > 0:54:27to come up with some designs for a new flag for his United Kingdom.
0:54:27 > 0:54:33And don't the results give a telling insight into the mindset of the English establishment of the time?
0:54:37 > 0:54:44Scots were gripped by the new fear that the independence of their unconquered nation was under threat,
0:54:44 > 0:54:50that a Scottish king would do with the pen what no English king had been able to do with the sword -
0:54:50 > 0:54:53turn Scotland into a satellite of England.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57Scotland would now be outranked by England
0:54:57 > 0:55:02"and thereby loss her beauty for ever," said one commentator.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05Scotland will turn into "a pendicle of England", said another.
0:55:11 > 0:55:16The Union flag, with the English cross set on a Scottish background,
0:55:16 > 0:55:20was what James chose to represent his united kingdoms.
0:55:20 > 0:55:25But in James's lifetime, it was no more than a reminder of what might have been,
0:55:25 > 0:55:29of an idea whose time hadn't yet come.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37The people of the islands, both Scots and English alike,
0:55:37 > 0:55:39weren't ready to be British.
0:55:39 > 0:55:43And so Project Britain ground to a halt.
0:55:49 > 0:55:55For centuries, English kings had used the prophecy of King Arthur's return
0:55:55 > 0:55:58to try and justify their attempts to subdue Scotland.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01But in one of the great ironies of British history,
0:56:01 > 0:56:06it was Scotland's own Little Arthur, James, who fulfilled that prophecy.
0:56:10 > 0:56:16What James had seen as a great victory for Scotland, other Scots felt as a loss.
0:56:18 > 0:56:23For the first time, Scots now found themselves ruled from distant London
0:56:23 > 0:56:25and a new reality dawned.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39By 1603, the Scottish people had a powerful sense of their identity
0:56:39 > 0:56:42as an ancient and free nation,
0:56:42 > 0:56:45unconquered by successive waves of invaders,
0:56:45 > 0:56:50who had fought time and again to secure their freedom and forged a place in Europe.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54They had also created a unique and distinctive court.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58But the events of 1603 weren't just a further step along that road.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02They were the decisive turning point in Scotland's story.
0:57:15 > 0:57:20The peace and co-operation that 1603 seemed to promise would be short lived.
0:57:20 > 0:57:21In the century to come,
0:57:21 > 0:57:26Scotland and England would experience a terrible escalation of violence
0:57:26 > 0:57:31in a furious civil war to resolve just what Britain actually meant
0:57:31 > 0:57:35and what sort of country the new Scotland would become.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd