An Unfortunate Scottish Marriage
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545 – 1567) was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the king consort of Scotland from 1565 until his death two years later. Darnley had accomplished little of note in his brief life before his violent death at age twenty two. His single legacy was his marriage to Scotland’s queen, and her impregnation with the future King James VI of Scotland and James I of England, and thus gave rise to the Stuart Dynasty. His wife, Mary Queen of Scots (1542 – 1587) was his first cousin. The sole surviving child of Scotland’s King James V, Mary’s father died when she was six-days-old, and she inherited the throne as an infant.
Mary was raised in France while Scotland was ruled by regents. In 1558, she was married to Dauphin – the French crown prince. He became King Francis II in 1559, only to die within a year. The widowed Mary returned to Scotland, and in 1565 met her first cousin, Lord Darnley. A handsome and well-proportioned young man, he captivated her. In addition to the attraction, a marriage made dynastic sense. It would unite two branches of the Stuart line, and thus strengthen the Scottish royal family. A marriage was swiftly arranged, and Darnley ascended the throne as king consort. As seen below, it did not take long for things to start to go wrong.