Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary


Bloody Queens: Elizabeth and Mary

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Queen Elizabeth I.

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Conqueror of the Spanish Armada.

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Tudor Defender of the Protestant Faith.

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The headstrong Virgin Queen who refuses to marry.

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But of all her challenges,

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her most gruelling battle is with another woman.

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Her own cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.

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I am a free princess in that I am

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not responsible to you or any other.

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Elizabeth will not face a more relentless threat to her crown.

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Or her life.

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With black ingratitude she tries to kill me,

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who so often saved her life!

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Elizabeth never forgives Mary for the fact that she has

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laid claim to her throne. She never forgets it.

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So long as I live, there shall be no other Queen in England but I.

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There is no other Queen of England but I.

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Both claim the English throne.

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Two queens on opposite sides of the greatest conflicts of their time,

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Protestant and Catholic,

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Tudor and Stuart

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and that most ancient of rivalries,

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English and Scottish.

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When rude Scotland vomits up a poison,

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must fine England lick it up for a restorative?

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Their combat will last from 1561 to 1587...

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..ending in one final, fatal decision.

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And yet, in nearly three decades of obsession with each other,

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they would never actually meet.

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That explosive relationship is played out entirely through letters...

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..written with an intimacy and passion that still burns through the paper.

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Beneath those elegant phrases swirls this dark, deadly current

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which is going to drag one of the writers down.

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Here for the first time on television, dramatised purely

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from the words of the two queens and their courtiers,

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is the faithful story of Elizabeth and Mary.

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No more tears.

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I will think upon revenge.

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Would that we, being two queens so near of kin,

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neighbours living in one isle,

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should be friends and live together like sisters,

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than by some strange means divide ourselves to the hurt of us both.

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I assure you, I be fully resolved to live with you

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in the knot of friendship, as we are in that of nature and blood.

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I am glad to hear of your goodwill towards us

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and good inclination to peace and friendship.

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God could not have blessed these two kingdoms with greater felicity

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than if one of us had been a king and married the other.

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1561.

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Mary Stuart's arrival in Scotland has the two queens

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brimming over with goodwill.

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She is 18, Elizabeth 27.

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The fact that with Mary and Elizabeth

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we have two young women who are queens is extraordinary.

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This is not an era of female rulers and now we have two of them

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and their kingdoms border each other.

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As two young queens on one island, surrounded by a sea of male rulers,

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they seem to be drawn to one another.

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Yet their characters couldn't be more different.

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Elizabeth's godson, Sir John Harington, said of her

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that when she smiled, "It was like pure sunshine".

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But then he continued, he said,

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"Anon would come a storm" and then thunderous weather would fall upon them all.

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THUNDER RUMBLES

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At one point, she actually broke one of her maid's fingers

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by slamming a candlestick down on it.

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She would smash things, she could say very unkind things.

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Elizabeth has survived prison and death threats

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to become Queen only two years earlier.

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Mary has been Queen of Scots since she was six days old.

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She's been raised in the luxury of the French court.

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Mary loved life.

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She loved dancing, she loved hunting,

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she loved sewing, she loved people.

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She would have danced all night if she could.

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She'd been raised the pampered princess in France.

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She was very vulnerable, she was volatile.

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She was alluring, but she was impulsive and she was impatient,

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and these were seen as quite dangerous qualities

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in a queen in the 16th century.

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'If you're a man looking at this from the 21st century backwards,'

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you think if you want a good date, you're going to choose

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Mary every time, you're never going to choose Elizabeth.

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Mary Stuart hasn't chosen to come to Scotland.

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The death of her husband, the King of France,

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just left her with no role at the French court.

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She's sort of unmoored when she arrives in Scotland

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and she's got these big, brash, Scottish lords who are really

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not too sure about having this "bonnie wee lassie" as their queen.

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To Mary, Scotland must seem like Afghanistan.

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A mountainous country of feuding clans,

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warlords and religious fanatics.

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She's a Catholic but many of them are fiercely Protestant.

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Her indifference is an insult to these men

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and will prove to be a dangerous mistake.

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Instead, her ambition makes her look south

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to England and Elizabeth's crown.

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She has been forced back to Scotland and when she's there,

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when she arrives,

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she nags on about being recognised

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as Elizabeth's successor.

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I am the nearest kinswoman she has, being both of us

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of one house and stock.

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As the great-granddaughter of Henry VII, Mary has a strong claim

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to be named Elizabeth's successor.

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So the English Queen has every reason to be wary.

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If it became known who would succeed me, I would never think myself secure.

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Tensions between Catholics and Protestants

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are worsening across Europe.

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Many people fear that just the presence of Queen Mary

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could inflame the passions of English Catholics.

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One reason England had become Protestant

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was so that Henry VIII could marry Anne Boleyn,

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Elizabeth's mother.

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English Catholics had a settled hatred for Anne Boleyn.

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They always favoured Mary, Queen of Scots's claim over Elizabeth's.

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They called her "bastardised Elizabeth".

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In the eyes of Catholic Europe, Mary, the good Catholic that she is,

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is the rightful heir to the English throne.

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Catholic Europe could back Mary

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if she tried to seize the English throne.

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A threat that obsessed Elizabeth's Chief Minister, Lord Burghley.

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The Queen of Scots is and always will be

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a dangerous person to your estate.

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She cannot forbear from her continual ardent desire

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to possess the crown of this realm.

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He thinks he's the man appointed, almost by God,

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to save Elizabeth from herself.

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Burghley is constantly dripping poison

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in Elizabeth's ear about Mary.

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Not to be neglected, trusted, nor pardoned.

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He saw Mary almost as the Antichrist.

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There was no way he was going to allow that woman

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to get anywhere near the throne of England.

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Mary is aware of Burghley's opposition.

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I know how near I am descended of the blood of England.

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And what devices have been attempted to make me a stranger from it.

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Elizabeth uses elaborate tactics to avoid ever giving

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Mary a straight answer about the succession.

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In September 1564, Mary's envoy, Sir James Melville,

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is sent to speak to Elizabeth to pin her down.

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But she bombards him with strangely personal questions.

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What colour of hair is reputed best?

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Is my hair or your Queen's the best?

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Well, which of us is fairer?

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Your Majesty is the fairest Queen in England.

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And ours is the fairest Queen in Scotland!

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Your Majesty is the whiter.

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But our Queen is very lovely.

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And who is taller?

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Er, my Queen is, Your Majesty.

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Then she is too high.

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I am neither too high, nor too low.

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What Elizabeth does is intelligent and subtle.

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She simply does not want to have the conversation that Melville has

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travelled to her court to try and have with her.

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She refuses to do it.

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And what she does is she invokes femininity to simply evade

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this conversation.

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And he is climbing the walls with frustration.

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But then he goes back to Mary and he is not fooled at all. He says you cannot trust Elizabeth.

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There are nothing but jealousies and suspicion.

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But the two women hide their suspicions behind a charm offensive.

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We shall present to the world such friendship as has never been seen.

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They seem to compete in their declarations of love.

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Elizabeth sends Mary a diamond ring but Mary goes one better.

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'Mary sends Elizabeth her portrait.

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'It's a miniature portrait in a heart-shaped diamond ring'

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and she sends it with Petrarchan, almost love lyrics,

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and it's this sort of sense that she is wooing Elizabeth.

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She wants to meet her.

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Mary's most comfortable writing in French.

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Mary's obsession with being recognised as Elizabeth's heir

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to the English throne made her easy to manipulate. Elizabeth could deal with this.

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She's dealing with someone who wants what only Elizabeth can give.

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It's marvellous.

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But Elizabeth avoids actually meeting her cousin.

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Mary was renowned for her charisma, for her charm.

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It was said that anyone who came within ten feet

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of the Queen of Scots would fall in love with her.

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Now, I think Elizabeth had heard that and she believed it

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and she feared it.

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She didn't want to like Mary.

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Having failed to meet and charm Elizabeth,

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Mary tries a new scheme to strengthen her claim to the Crown - marriage.

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But Elizabeth is not about to let her cousin marry

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one of her powerful European rivals.

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I recommend some fit nobleman within the island,

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but I declare no child of France, Spain or Austria will be acceptable.

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And your right and title to the English Crown will depend much on your marriage.

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The root problem is Elizabeth regards herself as the superior queen

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and she regards Mary as a satellite queen

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and no Scot, then or now,

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would accept that.

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Elizabeth isn't like other queens.

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She has little interest in marriage.

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That would mean handing power to a husband.

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No husband means no chance of an heir,

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no matter how much Burghley badgers her.

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God send our mistress a husband

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and by him a son that we may hope our posterity

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shall have a masculine succession.

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I am already bound unto a husband, which is the Kingdom of England.

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As many as are English are my children.

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If I am to disclose to you what I prefer

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if I follow the inclination of my nature,

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I will tell you it is this -

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beggar woman and single far rather than Queen and married.

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I think the reason Elizabeth chose not to marry had an awful lot

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to do with the examples from which she had learned in childhood.

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So, of course, it's not a great role model,

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the fact that her mother, Anne Boleyn,

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is executed by her father,

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but I think it went further than that for Elizabeth.

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There had been a number of scandals surrounding her.

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At the age of just 13, the first major scandal erupted.

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Her stepfather Thomas Seymour came into Elizabeth's bedroom early

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in the morning and, basically, you might say, he sexually touched her.

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His wife Catherine was actually complicit in this

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and there is one occasion described where she held Elizabeth down

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while her husband cut Elizabeth's gown into 100 pieces.

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I could not do withal for she held me while the Lord Admiral cut it.

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I've thought about this for over 30 years

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and I now think that Elizabeth had probably pretty much

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decided that she never would marry and I think the reason for this is

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simply those teenage experiences,

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when she had seen how men could behave.

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The one exception is Lord Robert,

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Lord Robert Dudley,

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and she was in love with him.

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There's absolutely no question that he was the only man

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she ever truly loved.

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My true opinion is that she will never marry.

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I know Her Majesty as well or better than anyone else.

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We were friends before she was eight years old.

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She has always said she would never do so.

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But, if by chance she should change her mind,

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I am practically assured she would choose no-one else but me.

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She told me so herself quite openly on more than one occasion.

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But even love is just a pawn in the Queen's game.

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Elizabeth is willing to sacrifice Lord Robert.

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She knows he'll always be loyal to her.

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If I had ever wanted to take a husband

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I would have married him myself.

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But being determined to end my life in virginity,

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I wish that my sister should marry him.

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Being matched with him would remove out of my mind

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all fear of usurpation before my death.

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He is so loving, trusty, that he

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would never suffer such a thing to be attempted.

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Mary is insulted by Elizabeth's suggestion that she should

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marry Lord Robert. He's not even a very high aristocrat.

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He is the son of a traitor and he is

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Elizabeth's discarded suitor.

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Do you think it might stand with my honour to marry a subject?

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Being assured of me, you might let me marry where I best like.

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Elizabeth has this sort of weird idea that they will have a

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sort of a menage a trois at Elizabeth's court.

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It's very strange.

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If the Queen, my sister, is pleased to live with me in household

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I will gladly bear the charges of the family

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as shall one sister do for another.

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I do mind to use my own choice in marriage.

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I will no longer be fed with yea or nay

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and depend on uncertain dealings.

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The sisterly pretence is over.

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Mary decides on her own potential husband,

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an Englishman and a Catholic,

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her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

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Darnley is actually a really good bet for Mary. He's got royal blood,

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which strengthens her own claim to the English throne.

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Moreover, he represents something extremely unusual for elite

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women in the 16th century and particularly queens.

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He's young, he's handsome, he's desirable.

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He is the lustiest and best proportioned tall man

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that I have ever seen.

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Mary's desire scandalises her court.

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The gossip gets back to Elizabeth through her ambassador,

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Thomas Randolph.

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She is seized in love

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in more fervent passions

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than is comely

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for any mean personage.

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Some report she is bewitched.

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Shame is laid aside.

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Darnley is but a pawn,

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but he may well checkmate me if he is promoted.

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I think Elizabeth was very suspicious of Mary's motives

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when it came to Lord Darnley

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because Darnley, too, had royal blood.

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In fact he was one of the strongest claimants to the English throne,

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so she undoubtedly saw this

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as an aggressive move on Mary's part,

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that she was considering marriage to this man.

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A Catholic couple on the Scottish throne could attract

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the support of England's enemies, France and Spain.

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So, Elizabeth simply puts any question of succession on hold.

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Elizabeth turns round and says that she will not name her successor

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until she decides whether she'll marry.

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Nothing shall be done until I shall be married

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or shall notify my determination never to marry.

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This is heartbreaking for Mary. She feels played.

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All the letters, the gifts, the petitions,

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it feels completely wasted.

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It shall turn to your discredit more than my loss.

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I will not fail in any good offices towards you

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but to rely or trust much from henceforth in you...

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..I will not.

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She gets up, she goes out, she has a good cry and then she goes to see Darnley.

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On July 29, 1565,

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Mary marries Darnley without Elizabeth's permission.

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'When she went ahead, quite rightly, and married Lord Darnley,'

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Elizabeth was incandescent with rage.

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Mary can't see the problem.

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She thinks she's upheld her side of the bargain, effectively.

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She's married an Englishman as Elizabeth had wanted,

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so what's the problem?

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You can never persuade me that I have failed you

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but you have failed me.

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I have found your proceedings of late very strange.

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You forget yourself marvellously.

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The naming of your husband King

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shall not give him any authority to do anything.

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Her Majesty desires her good sister to meddle no further.

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Mary now has both a Catholic husband

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and a stronger claim to the English throne.

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The Queen of Scots is delighted.

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Suddenly, probably for the first time,

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Mary really has the upper hand in this relationship.

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Madame, ma soeur,

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I understand you are offended without just cause

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against the king, my husband, and myself.

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Mary's marriage to Darnley doesn't just offend Elizabeth.

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The Scottish lords are horrified.

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Darnley, he was awful.

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The Protestant lords couldn't bear him.

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He may have had Scottish blood.

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He may even have had Stuart blood

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but to them he was this effete, bisexual, beardless Englishman.

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One contemporary even called him a great cock chick.

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This is not the kind of guy that they want telling them

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what to do in Scotland.

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He's unfaithful to Mary from very early on.

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He's a terrible drinker. He's a big whisky drinker.

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He goes into uncontrollable rages.

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-THOMAS RANDOLPH:

-'I know for certain that Queen Mary repents her marriage

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'and that she hates him.'

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She is so much altered, her wits are not what they were.

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Her beauty another.

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Her cheer and countenance changed.

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A woman more to be pitied than any I ever saw.

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Once he's married, that's it. He is King.

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He thinks that she should be a submissive wee wife

0:22:440:22:47

and do exactly as he tells her.

0:22:470:22:49

Then comes big news.

0:22:510:22:53

Mary is pregnant.

0:22:530:22:55

If it's a boy he'll strengthen the Stuart claim to the English Crown.

0:22:560:23:01

But some wonder if Darnley is the father,

0:23:010:23:04

or one of Mary's courtiers,

0:23:040:23:06

David Rizzio.

0:23:060:23:08

David Rizzio is an Italian musician and he's Catholic,

0:23:080:23:13

so, of course, he has to be a papal spy.

0:23:130:23:15

He is everything that the Protestant lords can't bear.

0:23:150:23:18

He seems to have inveigled himself into Mary's intimacies,

0:23:180:23:22

into her familiarity.

0:23:220:23:23

Jealous of the influence the Italian has over Mary,

0:23:260:23:29

Darnley goes after him.

0:23:290:23:31

There are practices in hand that David, with the consent of the King,

0:23:310:23:35

shall have his throat cut within these ten days.

0:23:350:23:38

The attack comes suddenly.

0:23:400:23:42

Darnley and Lord Ruthven, a Scottish Lord, came in.

0:23:420:23:46

They tried to detach Mary from Rizzio

0:23:460:23:48

but she was shielding him.

0:23:480:23:50

He hid behind her skirts.

0:23:500:23:52

They dragged Rizzio away and they stabbed him.

0:23:520:23:55

It was like a cell block shanking.

0:23:550:23:57

He was stabbed 56 times, Mary recalled.

0:23:570:24:00

With her friend lying in a pool of blood at her feet,

0:24:030:24:07

Mary could take no more of Darnley.

0:24:070:24:10

You have taken your last of me

0:24:140:24:17

and your farewell.

0:24:170:24:18

No more tears.

0:24:310:24:32

I will think upon revenge.

0:24:340:24:37

'She despises her husband now

0:24:400:24:43

'and this makes her into a decisive,

0:24:430:24:46

'fearsome, strong ruler.'

0:24:460:24:49

The sort of Queen that Elizabeth already is

0:24:490:24:53

and Mary now seizes the initiative.

0:24:530:24:55

Fearing that Darnley will try to push her off the throne,

0:24:580:25:02

Mary writes directly to Elizabeth asking for support.

0:25:020:25:05

Praying you remember your honour and our nearness of blood.

0:25:070:25:11

The word of God commands that all princes should defend the just

0:25:150:25:21

actions of other princes as well as their own.

0:25:210:25:25

For once, Elizabeth shows solidarity with her sister Queen.

0:25:270:25:31

She wears her portrait around her waist

0:25:310:25:35

and she seems genuinely sympathetic towards Mary at this time.

0:25:350:25:39

Do you think the Queen of Scotland has been well treated?

0:25:400:25:44

If it had been me,

0:25:440:25:46

I would have taken her husband's dagger and stabbed him with it.

0:25:460:25:49

'What she doesn't know is that Burghley

0:25:510:25:54

'had advance notice of the Rizzio plot'

0:25:540:25:56

and didn't bother to tell his own Queen

0:25:560:25:59

because he knew that this would bring about turmoil in Scotland

0:25:590:26:03

and this would help to destabilise Mary.

0:26:030:26:06

But on June 19, 1566,

0:26:100:26:13

Mary Stuart does something Elizabeth will never do.

0:26:130:26:17

She gives birth to a male heir, James.

0:26:170:26:21

But Mary is still miserable, shackled to her husband.

0:26:230:26:26

Unless I am quit of the King by one means or another

0:26:280:26:31

I can never have a good day for the rest of my life.

0:26:310:26:33

I could wish to be dead.

0:26:380:26:39

Elizabeth may despise Darnley

0:26:430:26:46

but she never sends a single soldier to defend her cousin.

0:26:460:26:49

Instead, Mary turns to another violent man.

0:26:510:26:55

'At the moment that Mary is at her most vulnerable, somebody steps forward.

0:26:550:26:59

'In this case it's the Earl of Bothwell.'

0:26:590:27:01

Yes, he will help Mary.

0:27:010:27:03

He will be her protector but he wants something back.

0:27:030:27:06

She doesn't know that yet.

0:27:060:27:08

Bothwell. Violently malicious beyond measure.

0:27:080:27:12

Treacherous and dishonest as the devil.

0:27:120:27:15

It isn't long before an explosion destroys Darnley's bedroom,

0:27:190:27:23

as seen in illustrations from the time.

0:27:230:27:26

Blown in the air with such vehemence

0:27:360:27:38

that the whole lodging walls and other...

0:27:380:27:42

There is nothing remaining, no.

0:27:420:27:44

Not a stone above another,

0:27:460:27:48

but all carried away or dashed in dross to the very ground.

0:27:480:27:53

Mysteriously, Darnley's half naked body

0:27:550:27:58

is found 60 paces from the house, strangled.

0:27:580:28:02

Many Scots suspect that Mary and Bothwell are behind it.

0:28:020:28:06

Killing a king is considered the worst crime in the Christian world.

0:28:090:28:13

With public opinion turning against Mary,

0:28:130:28:16

Elizabeth is losing patience with her cousin.

0:28:160:28:19

She procured her husband's murder.

0:28:200:28:23

Bothwell, the chief murderer, was protected by her.

0:28:230:28:26

But Mary is adamant that she has nothing to do with it.

0:28:300:28:34

I lament the tragedy of my husband's death more than

0:28:360:28:38

any of my subjects can do.

0:28:380:28:40

I had never knowledge, art, nor part thereof.

0:28:410:28:44

For the love of God, Madam, use such sincerity

0:28:460:28:49

and prudence in this case that all the world may feel

0:28:490:28:52

justified in believing you innocent of so enormous a crime,

0:28:520:28:57

which if you are not

0:28:570:28:59

would be good cause for degrading you from the rank of princes.

0:28:590:29:02

All of Scotland cried out upon the foul murder of the King.

0:29:040:29:07

Everybody suspected Bothwell.

0:29:070:29:09

Now Bothwell calls in Mary's debt.

0:29:110:29:14

He abducts her for 12 days

0:29:140:29:17

and some think he rapes her to force her into marriage.

0:29:170:29:21

I cannot dissemble that he has used me as I would have wished or deserved at his hand.

0:29:230:29:28

'There are people that have tried to defend Mary,

0:29:300:29:33

'who have said that she was raped by Bothwell.

0:29:330:29:36

'I don't agree with that, actually,

0:29:360:29:37

'because the one thing that everyone knew Mary for'

0:29:370:29:40

was that she stood on her grandeur as a former Queen of France.

0:29:400:29:42

She was not going to marry a man who had raped her,

0:29:420:29:44

so I think that she was talked round.

0:29:440:29:49

May 14, 1567,

0:29:490:29:53

Mary marries Bothwell in the middle of the night.

0:29:530:29:56

They have so little support now only a few people attend.

0:29:560:30:00

The news soon reaches Elizabeth.

0:30:000:30:04

How could a worse choice be made for your honour,

0:30:080:30:10

than in such haste,

0:30:100:30:13

to marry a subject, who besides other notorious lacks,

0:30:130:30:18

public fame has charged with the murder of your late husband?

0:30:180:30:21

Burghley and the Scottish lords used Darnley's assassination

0:30:220:30:27

to accuse Mary and Bothwell of adultery and murder,

0:30:270:30:31

declaring them morally unfit to rule.

0:30:310:30:34

She feigned herself

0:30:360:30:37

to be forcibly taken by him

0:30:370:30:40

and then married this murderer,

0:30:400:30:42

giving him greater estates than ever she gave her own husband.

0:30:420:30:46

She could now be completely rubbished as a woman of any status,

0:30:480:30:55

any pretentions or rights to royalty.

0:30:550:30:59

She's a whore, she's a murderess, she's an adulteress.

0:31:000:31:03

You know, what more do you want?

0:31:030:31:05

Scots think their nation dishonoured, the Queen shamed

0:31:050:31:07

and country undone.

0:31:070:31:10

She is now in utter contempt of her people

0:31:100:31:12

and so far in doubt of them herself,

0:31:120:31:15

that without speedy redress, worse is to be feared.

0:31:150:31:18

With the Scottish lords gathering their armies against her,

0:31:200:31:24

Mary realises she has no chance.

0:31:240:31:27

She surrenders herself in order to save Bothwell.

0:31:270:31:31

Perhaps she did love him after all.

0:31:310:31:34

It basically ends with Bothwell offering to fight

0:31:340:31:37

the lords in single combat.

0:31:370:31:38

At the last moment, Mary stops it.

0:31:380:31:40

She wants to try and end the thing with non-violence,

0:31:400:31:43

so she proposes that Bothwell be allowed to escape

0:31:430:31:47

and not to return. And she will go with the lords.

0:31:470:31:51

Bothwell flees to Norway and Mary is paraded, as a trophy,

0:31:540:31:58

through Edinburgh.

0:31:580:32:00

She's brought back to Edinburgh as a captive,

0:32:000:32:04

dressed in very ordinary clothes, not the great robes of a queen,

0:32:040:32:08

with the Edinburgh mob howling at her.

0:32:080:32:12

"Burn her."

0:32:120:32:14

"Burn her."

0:32:140:32:17

"She's not worthy to live."

0:32:170:32:19

"Kill her."

0:32:190:32:22

"Drown her."

0:32:220:32:24

Or so I'm told.

0:32:240:32:27

Of course, Burghley is, of course just rubbing his hands with glee.

0:32:270:32:31

Now Scotland is in chaos.

0:32:310:32:33

But in England, Elizabeth is having none of it.

0:32:340:32:37

First, she throws her support behind Mary.

0:32:370:32:41

You have a good neighbour, a dear sister and a faithful friend.

0:32:410:32:46

You shall not lack my friendship or power for the preservation

0:32:480:32:52

of your honour in quietness.

0:32:520:32:54

'You don't rebel against an anointed queen.'

0:32:540:32:58

That's a red line for Elizabeth.

0:32:580:33:00

So she's always going to support Mary, against the lords

0:33:000:33:03

who are undermining her sovereignty.

0:33:030:33:06

Then Elizabeth threatens war against the Scottish lords.

0:33:070:33:11

You have no warrant, by God's or man's law, to act as superiors,

0:33:110:33:16

vindicators or judges over your prince,

0:33:160:33:20

whatever disorders you gather against her.

0:33:200:33:24

If you continue to keep her in prison or touch her life or person,

0:33:240:33:29

I will not fail to revenge it to the uttermost.

0:33:290:33:32

Rather than fight Elizabeth,

0:33:350:33:37

the Scottish lords imprison Mary on an island in Loch Leven

0:33:370:33:41

and force her to abdicate.

0:33:410:33:43

They show her the documents, she reads it through,

0:33:450:33:49

she doesn't want to sign it,

0:33:490:33:51

they threaten to slit her throat.

0:33:510:33:53

If I did not sign this letter, they would have taken me from Loch Leven...

0:33:580:34:03

..and as they were crossing the lake, would've thrown me into it.

0:34:040:34:08

Or secretly conveyed me to some island in the middle of the sea,

0:34:100:34:15

there to be left unknown for the remainder of my life.

0:34:150:34:19

They advised me to sign...

0:34:230:34:25

..for if I did not...

0:34:270:34:29

..they would cut my throat.

0:34:310:34:34

'You don't imprison a woman like that and expect her just to, you know, keep her composure.'

0:34:420:34:47

So they just brutally wear her down.

0:34:470:34:51

Of course, she also has to fear... She's fearing for her son.

0:34:510:34:55

You know, what will happen to him?

0:34:550:34:57

They do, of course, say he will be crowned King.

0:34:570:35:00

Mary will never see her infant son, James, again.

0:35:010:35:05

But she can ensure he'll be King.

0:35:050:35:07

On July 24th 1567, Mary signs the letter of abdication.

0:35:080:35:14

She is now a queen without a country.

0:35:140:35:17

'Mary was in a pretty bad mental state.

0:35:180:35:23

'It's a reminder of the problem of Mary's character all along.'

0:35:230:35:28

She's not got that quality of toughness, of steel,

0:35:280:35:32

that enables monarchs to rule in very difficult circumstances.

0:35:320:35:36

She panicked, hared off down to Galloway, and fled to England.

0:35:400:35:48

'Her Majesty lost all courage.

0:35:500:35:53

'And took so great fear that she never rested till'

0:35:530:35:55

she was in England, thinking herself of refuge there.

0:35:550:36:00

Mary will never return to Scotland.

0:36:020:36:05

Her last hope is with Elizabeth,

0:36:050:36:07

a woman she has never met.

0:36:070:36:10

I am now completely forced out of my kingdom...

0:36:120:36:15

..and driven to such straits, that next to God...

0:36:170:36:21

..I have no hope, but in you.

0:36:240:36:27

'She believed Elizabeth when she'd offered her support,

0:36:290:36:33

'when she'd expressed her love for her sister queen.'

0:36:330:36:37

And so she took her at her word and the result was disaster for Mary.

0:36:370:36:42

Instead of a royal welcome, Mary runs straight into a trap.

0:36:460:36:50

Burghley has her immediately placed under house arrest.

0:36:510:36:55

'Burghley makes sure that Mary's locked up straight away.'

0:36:550:36:59

And around her are put people whom he knows are loyal to the

0:36:590:37:03

Protestant cause and to him.

0:37:030:37:06

When rude Scotland vomits up a poison,

0:37:060:37:10

must fine England lick it up for a restorative?

0:37:100:37:14

From the moment Mary sets foot in England, he wants her dead.

0:37:140:37:18

Mary tries to meet Elizabeth, face to face,

0:37:210:37:25

so she can clear her name.

0:37:250:37:28

If it please you that I come to you in private,

0:37:280:37:31

I can tell you the truth against all their lies.

0:37:310:37:35

When it is proposed, yet again, that Elizabeth and Mary meet,

0:37:350:37:40

the English Queen gives the excuse that she cannot meet her cousin,

0:37:400:37:47

because Mary is still embroiled

0:37:470:37:49

in the scandal of Lord Darnley's murder.

0:37:490:37:53

And until her name has been cleared, once and for all,

0:37:530:37:56

the English Queen cannot be seen to meet her.

0:37:560:38:00

If you find it strange not to see me,

0:38:000:38:04

you will see that it would be malaise of me

0:38:040:38:06

to receive you before your justification.

0:38:060:38:10

But once honourably acquitted of this crime,

0:38:100:38:13

I swear to you, before God,

0:38:130:38:14

among all worldly pleasures, meeting you will hold the first rank.

0:38:140:38:20

Now that Mary is actually in England, Elizabeth isn't so friendly,

0:38:230:38:27

as Mary realises.

0:38:270:38:31

I see how things frame evil for me.

0:38:320:38:36

I have many enemies about the Queen, my good sister,

0:38:400:38:43

who do all they can to keep me from her.

0:38:430:38:46

She is reduced to making empty threats.

0:38:490:38:53

I have made great wars in Scotland

0:38:540:38:58

and I pray God I make no trouble in other realms also.

0:38:580:39:05

Have some consideration for me,

0:39:050:39:08

rather than always thinking of yourself.

0:39:080:39:11

I assure you, I will do nothing to hurt you,

0:39:120:39:15

but rather honour and aid you.

0:39:150:39:19

The question becomes, what's to be done with her?

0:39:190:39:23

And for this, of course, Burghley needs some evidence.

0:39:230:39:27

Burghley's spies intercept encrypted letters

0:39:290:39:32

from Mary's Catholic supporters,

0:39:320:39:34

which show that they are plotting to put her on the throne.

0:39:340:39:38

Now Mary really is a potential threat.

0:39:380:39:41

Now, whether or not she is trying to get Elizabeth's throne,

0:39:410:39:45

other people are trying to get it.

0:39:450:39:47

And put her on it.

0:39:470:39:49

Mary denies any part of it.

0:39:490:39:52

I never wrote anything concerning that matter to any creature

0:39:530:39:56

and if any such writings be, they are false and feigned,

0:39:560:40:00

invented only by themselves to my dishonour and slander.

0:40:000:40:04

I am no enchantress, but your sister and natural cousin.

0:40:040:40:08

But Mary's protests fall on deaf ears.

0:40:130:40:16

The queens are caught up in a battle bigger than themselves.

0:40:160:40:20

'Catholics and Protestants are dying on both sides, in the Netherlands, in France.'

0:40:200:40:24

And what happens with Elizabeth and Mary is that,

0:40:240:40:28

privately moderate though they may have been,

0:40:280:40:31

they become polarized as figureheads of two sides

0:40:310:40:35

in a more and more extreme conflict,

0:40:350:40:38

in which their particular conflict with one another

0:40:380:40:41

has become emblematic.

0:40:410:40:44

To Lord Burghley, the Catholics are a clear and imminent danger.

0:40:440:40:49

Their malice is bent against your person.

0:40:500:40:54

They will never cease, as long as the Scottish queen lives.

0:40:540:40:59

Elizabeth refuses to be bounced into executing Mary, Queen of Scots.

0:41:000:41:05

The evidence is not watertight

0:41:050:41:08

and also she has this abhorrence at the idea

0:41:080:41:11

of executing an anointed queen.

0:41:110:41:15

Can I put to death the bird, that to escape the pursuit of the hawk,

0:41:150:41:19

has fled to my feet for protection?

0:41:190:41:22

Honour and conscience forbid.

0:41:230:41:26

Mary's held in castles all over England,

0:41:280:41:31

but she never accepts being a prisoner.

0:41:310:41:34

Since you have detained me forcibly, if you suspect that

0:41:340:41:37

I desire my liberty, I cannot help it. I am a free princess

0:41:370:41:41

in that I am not responsible to you or any other.

0:41:410:41:44

Months turn into years of confinement.

0:41:470:41:51

Mary never tires of writing to Elizabeth.

0:41:510:41:54

Tens of thousands of words, demanding her freedom and pleading to meet.

0:41:540:42:00

Each word scored into her embittered heart.

0:42:000:42:04

I have written to you several times during the last year...

0:42:050:42:09

..to lay before your consideration the unworthy treatment which

0:42:110:42:16

I have received in this...

0:42:160:42:19

..captivity.

0:42:220:42:24

'In her more desperate moments in captivity, she becomes,

0:42:270:42:30

'increasingly, a prisoner of her own imagination,

0:42:300:42:33

'within this claustrophobic world.'

0:42:330:42:35

Mary did start sending small gifts to Elizabeth

0:42:350:42:39

to attract her attention.

0:42:390:42:41

'Elizabeth had a terribly sweet tooth, so Mary would send marzipan,

0:42:410:42:46

'she would send nuts.'

0:42:460:42:48

She also had a mirror on a chain. She also sent this to Elizabeth as a gift.

0:42:480:42:55

'She's trying to open up a line of communication,

0:42:580:43:02

'so that, maybe, they can work this out.'

0:43:020:43:04

But Elizabeth just stonewalls them all.

0:43:040:43:07

I beg you to relieve yourself of the charge which I am to you.

0:43:110:43:15

But things only get worse for Mary.

0:43:170:43:20

After 17 years in prison, she still hopes her son, James,

0:43:200:43:24

the King of Scotland, will negotiate her release.

0:43:240:43:28

Elizabeth had the bright idea that Mary might go back to Scotland

0:43:290:43:35

and rule jointly with James.

0:43:350:43:37

Now, young James grew up to be a very effective king.

0:43:390:43:44

James, who's now approaching adulthood...

0:43:440:43:49

..decides he's going to ditch his mum.

0:43:500:43:52

The last thing he wanted was a discredited mother back,

0:43:520:43:57

messing things up and getting in the way.

0:43:570:43:59

Was there ever a sight so detestable and impious

0:44:020:44:06

before God and man than an only child despoiling his mother

0:44:060:44:10

of her crown and royal estate?

0:44:100:44:12

There is no king of Scotland...

0:44:190:44:21

..nor any queen but me.

0:44:240:44:26

'What this does

0:44:300:44:31

'is it forces Mary to say, "I've got to get out of here."'

0:44:310:44:34

And from this point, she's willing to listen to even desperate plots.

0:44:340:44:40

Having lost all hope of regaining her crown

0:44:410:44:44

or convincing Elizabeth to help her,

0:44:440:44:47

Mary becomes obsessed with getting Elizabeth's crown.

0:44:470:44:50

I will not leave my prison save as Queen of England.

0:44:520:44:55

Burghley suspects Mary is plotting to have Elizabeth killed

0:44:580:45:02

and trying to make England Catholic again.

0:45:020:45:04

So he sends his spies out to get proof.

0:45:060:45:08

Mary becomes this romanticised figurehead

0:45:100:45:13

for a generation of young men educated in the Catholic colleges

0:45:130:45:17

in France, in Rome and in the Netherlands,

0:45:170:45:20

who want to give their lives for their faith.

0:45:200:45:23

It doesn't take long before a young man

0:45:270:45:29

writes to Mary.

0:45:290:45:30

Burghley's trap is set.

0:45:320:45:33

'Anthony Babington is a young and not very bright,'

0:45:350:45:39

but enthusiastic Catholic gentleman with too much money

0:45:390:45:42

and a lot of time on his hands.

0:45:420:45:45

He writes to her and he says that he will help spring her

0:45:490:45:52

from her imprisonment and, at the same time,

0:45:520:45:55

six gentlemen will do the deed.

0:45:550:45:58

They will assassinate Elizabeth.

0:45:580:46:00

There be six noble gentlemen, all my private friends,

0:46:030:46:06

who, for the zeal they bear the Catholic cause

0:46:060:46:08

and Your Majesty's service,

0:46:080:46:10

will undertake the execution.

0:46:100:46:12

'Everyone's waiting. Burghley's waiting, Babington's waiting for Mary to reply.'

0:46:170:46:21

And 12 days later, it comes.

0:46:210:46:25

She basically damns herself in that letter.

0:46:250:46:28

The affairs being thus prepared and forces and readiness

0:46:310:46:34

both without and within the realm,

0:46:340:46:37

then shall it be time to put the six gentlemen to work

0:46:370:46:41

upon the accomplishing of their design.

0:46:410:46:43

Babington's promising her ships and soldiers and there never were any.

0:46:450:46:49

There were no ships, there were no soldiers,

0:46:490:46:51

there were no loyal Catholics waiting to carry her

0:46:510:46:54

to elegance and luxury and freedom, such as she'd known

0:46:540:46:57

in her childhood.

0:46:570:46:58

It was all a fantasy and what's terribly, terribly sad

0:46:580:47:01

is that Mary still believed it.

0:47:010:47:04

Burghley's spies bring him a copy of Mary's letter.

0:47:060:47:10

But will it be enough to condemn her to death?

0:47:100:47:13

I hope that God which hath given us the light

0:47:140:47:17

to discover this great conspiracy,

0:47:170:47:19

will also give assistance to punish it.

0:47:190:47:22

Any sympathy Elizabeth ever had for Mary is gone.

0:47:240:47:28

Well, what do you think of your Queen of Scotland?

0:47:290:47:32

With black ingratitude and treachery,

0:47:340:47:37

she tries to kill me who so often saved her life!

0:47:370:47:41

Now I am certain of her evil intent, it may be she will not

0:47:440:47:48

have another opportunity to behave like this.

0:47:480:47:51

Despite the proof, Elizabeth can't bring herself to condemn Mary.

0:47:510:47:56

She felt guilty, she felt terrified that God would judge her on the last day

0:47:560:48:04

for putting to death a divine right ruler,

0:48:040:48:06

and, you know, she probably felt upset and annoyed

0:48:060:48:10

that she'd been boxed into this situation that she never wanted

0:48:100:48:13

to be in, that she had managed to avoid for most of her reign.

0:48:130:48:17

Instead, she turns her rage on the young plotters.

0:48:180:48:21

Babington and his associates were hanged on the gibbet,

0:48:240:48:28

they were cut down while still alive

0:48:280:48:30

and they had their private parts chopped off in front of them,

0:48:300:48:34

they were eviscerated, their entrails were burnt in front of them

0:48:340:48:37

and then they were executed,

0:48:370:48:40

and then they were quartered.

0:48:400:48:41

And what's really gruesome about this is that

0:48:410:48:44

'Elizabeth asks Burghley if he could come up with something else.

0:48:440:48:48

'And Burghley assures her that if it's done properly -

0:48:480:48:51

'ie if they're cut down soon enough so that they can witness'

0:48:510:48:54

their own evisceration -

0:48:540:48:56

then it would be pain enough.

0:48:560:48:57

On October 25th 1586, Mary is pronounced guilty

0:49:010:49:06

of conspiring to murder Elizabeth.

0:49:060:49:08

I am quite ready and very happy to die.

0:49:160:49:18

And to shed my blood for God Almighty, my saviour and my creator.

0:49:200:49:24

So, the sentence was proclaimed. But even then, Elizabeth wouldn't do anything.

0:49:260:49:32

Why? She just wanted it all to go away.

0:49:320:49:35

She didn't want to be the source of...

0:49:360:49:38

..the execution of an anointed queen.

0:49:400:49:43

If it had pleased God to have made us both milkmaids

0:49:430:49:46

with pails on our arms, so that the matter rested between us two

0:49:460:49:51

and that I knew she should still seek my destruction,

0:49:510:49:54

yet could I not consent to her death.

0:49:540:49:57

'This is my own personal speculation, but I think she wanted Mary dead.'

0:49:580:50:03

She knew that Mary had to die, but when it came to it,

0:50:030:50:08

she couldn't quite bring herself to believe that she was the person

0:50:080:50:12

who was striking Mary's head off.

0:50:120:50:14

'To bounce Elizabeth into making this decision,

0:50:400:50:43

'she is told by Burghley, and this...'

0:50:430:50:45

When I first discovered this in the archives,

0:50:450:50:47

I could hardly believe it.

0:50:470:50:50

She's told by Burghley that the Spanish Armada's landed a year early in Wales.

0:50:500:50:55

Burghley invents a full-scale invasion to push her into signing.

0:50:550:50:58

The realm will be in great danger, principally the person of Your Majesty.

0:51:000:51:05

Burghley tells the Queen to double her guards. Who knows what might happen?

0:51:050:51:09

'She calls for the warrant and she signs.'

0:51:110:51:14

'She signs it after they've been pressuring her and

0:51:170:51:20

'pressuring her to do it'

0:51:200:51:21

and, suddenly, it's done.

0:51:210:51:23

Burghley quickly sends off the executioners.

0:51:250:51:28

'But then, almost immediately,

0:51:290:51:32

'Elizabeth acts as if she didn't know what she was signing.'

0:51:320:51:36

"I was given a whole pile of papers by my secretary.

0:51:360:51:39

"He should've told me that top of the pile was the warrant

0:51:390:51:44

"for the execution of the Queen of Scots."

0:51:440:51:46

So, she blames everybody but herself.

0:51:460:51:49

All the time, she's trying to wash her hands of the blood of Mary,

0:51:490:51:54

but they are covered in it.

0:51:540:51:56

After 19 years of confinement,

0:51:590:52:02

Mary is suddenly told that she will die the next morning at

0:52:020:52:05

Fotheringhay Castle, February 8th, 1587.

0:52:050:52:09

I did not think the Queen, my sister,

0:52:110:52:13

would have consented to my death.

0:52:130:52:15

But seeing that your pleasure is so,

0:52:180:52:21

death shall be to me

0:52:210:52:24

most welcome.

0:52:240:52:25

Do not accuse me of presumption if on the eve of leaving this world

0:52:270:52:32

and preparing myself for a better one,

0:52:320:52:35

I remind you that one day you will have to answer for your charge.

0:52:350:52:39

Mary had decided that she would die a death that would

0:52:410:52:44

always be remembered.

0:52:440:52:46

She was going to go for a Catholic martyrdom.

0:52:460:52:49

If she couldn't win in life,

0:52:500:52:51

she would triumph in death.

0:52:510:52:53

'Mary may not have had much sense, but what she did have was great style.'

0:53:000:53:06

And right until the end, she kept that up.

0:53:060:53:09

'She's dressed in black, she's got a cross in one hand,

0:53:140:53:18

'a Latin prayer book in the other, there's a rosary around her wrist.'

0:53:180:53:22

I hope you shall make an end to all my troubles.

0:53:230:53:27

'She shows charity to her executioner,'

0:53:270:53:30

she consoles her weeping ladies.

0:53:300:53:33

'Under her outer garment, she's dressed in tawny red -

0:53:360:53:39

'the colour of martyrdom.'

0:53:390:53:41

There's even sort of gallows humour that you would get,

0:53:410:53:44

so she jokes with her executioner that she hasn't had

0:53:440:53:48

'such a servant undressing her before and certainly not

0:53:480:53:50

'in front of the audience that she had there.'

0:53:500:53:53

I have never taken off my clothes before such a company.

0:53:560:54:00

IN LATIN

0:54:080:54:13

SHE CONTINUES TO PRAY IN LATIN

0:54:170:54:20

The first stroke goes right into the back of the neck.

0:54:370:54:39

She continues praying, "Into thy hands, O Lord,

0:54:390:54:43

"I commend my spirit," in Latin.

0:54:430:54:45

The second blow goes really nine tenths of the way,

0:54:480:54:51

but he finishes it off using the axe as a meat cleaver.

0:54:510:54:55

'The headsman picks up the head, as you do,

0:54:560:54:59

'and say "God save the Queen,"'

0:54:590:55:00

except that, of course, Mary was wearing a wig,

0:55:000:55:03

so the head rolls off the stage like a football.

0:55:030:55:05

In a sense, it's a terribly fitting kind of end

0:55:050:55:08

because like so much of Mary, Queen of Scots' life,

0:55:080:55:12

it's theatrical.

0:55:120:55:14

And very good theatre this time.

0:55:150:55:17

In my end is my beginning.

0:55:210:55:24

"In my end is my beginning." That was so apt.

0:55:250:55:29

She's been immortalised after her death in many ways

0:55:290:55:32

as the ultimate doomed heroine,

0:55:320:55:35

THE damsel in distress.

0:55:350:55:37

'Also as a figure of Scots nationalism in a way

0:55:370:55:41

'against those beastly English

0:55:410:55:42

'and, perhaps above all,'

0:55:420:55:45

she is the ultimate Catholic martyr.

0:55:450:55:48

We will never be sure what Elizabeth really felt for her cousin.

0:55:500:55:53

But Mary's execution marked her forever.

0:55:530:55:57

This is something Elizabeth never got over.

0:55:570:55:59

She always denied that she'd been responsible for Mary's death.

0:55:590:56:03

She lied point-blank to James that she was responsible.

0:56:030:56:05

She blamed her councillors.

0:56:050:56:07

I would you know, though not felt,

0:56:080:56:12

the extreme pain which overwhelms my mind

0:56:120:56:16

for that miserable...accident...

0:56:160:56:20

far contrary to my meaning!

0:56:200:56:22

I beseech you, God and many more

0:56:220:56:25

know how innocent I am in this case.

0:56:250:56:27

After 26 years of never having met Mary,

0:56:310:56:35

Elizabeth now finds she's left it too late.

0:56:350:56:38

History will have to decide who won their battle.

0:56:400:56:44

'It may seem that the winner is obvious.

0:56:450:56:48

'It is Elizabeth, she has put to death Mary, Queen of Scots.'

0:56:480:56:51

She's vanquished her rival in the end.

0:56:510:56:55

But arguably, Mary has the last laugh

0:56:550:56:59

because it's her son James who becomes King of England.

0:56:590:57:03

When Elizabeth dies without any children of her own,

0:57:030:57:07

without anyone else to leave the throne to,

0:57:070:57:09

she's forced to leave it to the son of her greatest rival.

0:57:090:57:13

Mary's son James not only went on to rule both Scotland and England,

0:57:160:57:21

he ensured that every subsequent British monarch

0:57:210:57:24

would carry the blood of Mary, Queen of Scots.

0:57:240:57:27

Mary had shaped history as profoundly as she had affected Elizabeth.

0:57:280:57:34

Elizabeth was haunted by Mary's ghost

0:57:340:57:37

for the rest of her days.

0:57:370:57:40

She could never quite get out of her head

0:57:400:57:42

the guilt that she felt at putting Mary to death

0:57:420:57:46

and it's said that on Elizabeth's own deathbed,

0:57:460:57:49

the name that she uttered last was that

0:57:490:57:52

of the Queen of Scots.

0:57:520:57:53

Would that we being two queens so near of kin...

0:57:570:58:02

..neighbours and living in one isle...

0:58:030:58:06

..should be friends and live together like sisters...

0:58:070:58:11

..than by strange means divide ourselves

0:58:130:58:17

to the hurt of us both.

0:58:170:58:18

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