10. Unhappy Royal Marriage Leads to Blown-Up Royal Hubbie
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1542 – 1587), inherited the throne as an infant, and was raised in France while Scotland was ruled by regents. In 1565, she returned home and met her first cousin, Lord Darnley, a handsome young man who captivated her. In addition to the attraction, a marriage made dynastic sense, as it would unite two branches of the Stuart line, and thus strengthen the Scottish royal family. A wedding was swiftly arranged, and Darnley ascended the throne as king consort. Unfortunately, Darnley had an excessive sense of entitlement. He grew enraged when Mary refused to grant him the Crown Matrimonial, which would have allowed him to continue ruling after her death.
When his wife got pregnant, instead of being pleased, Darnley fretted that any heir would push him that much further from the throne. He eventually focused his rage on Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio, whom he accused of turning the queen against him, and of being her lover. In March of 1566, Darnley and some sidekicks burst into the queen’s dining room, and stabbed Rizzio to death in the presence of his horrified, pregnant wife. Mary responded by conspiring to blow up Darnley’s bedroom while he slept. He survived the blast, only to get strangled to death as he staggered out. Mary married his murderer a few months later, which so scandalized an already reeling Scotland, that Mary was deposed and exiled.