Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87) was a thorn in Elizabeth’s side for much of her reign. Mary had been unpopular in Scotland because of her Catholic faith, and when she was suspected of having her husband killed and marrying his murderer, she was forced to flee to England in 1568. She hoped her cousin, Elizabeth, would help her to regain the throne of Scotland, but Elizabeth instead imprisoned her, perhaps wary of her appeal to Catholic subjects who wished to replace her with a Catholic monarch. Elizabeth entrusted her divisive and dangerous prisoner to the care of Talbot and Bess.
Elizabeth insisted that her cousin suffer no discomfort, and so Bess refurnished Talbot’s castle at Tutbury for her arrival. The arrangement also required the couple to stay at Tutbury, rather than their beloved Chatsworth or wherever they fancied. In a sense, they, too, were prisoners. In addition, though Bess and Mary were close and spent a lot of time together, Talbot baulked at the prisoner’s ludicrous demands for the upkeep of herself and her enormous retinue, which far exceeded the stipend allocated by Elizabeth. Over the next 15 years, Mary was moved between several of Bess’s homes across the country.
Whilst in Bess’s custody, Mary was involved in several plots to escape and recapture Scotland or replace Elizabeth. This meant that Bess’s friendship with Mary was scrutinised, and the stress of this and Mary’s incarceration expenses led Talbot to mistreat his wife (see above). Paradoxically, whilst taking out his frustration on Bess, Talbot doted on Mary, and rumours spread that they were having an affair, and even had an illegitimate child. This all effectively ended Bess and Talbot’s marriage. They were eventually relieved of their charge, and Mary was executed in 1587 after one plot too many to replace Elizabeth.