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Hello, Mary Queen of Scots had potential to be one of the most powerful rulers in Europe.

Yet she was also one of the most vulnerable.

In France, when she was a teenage bride to their future king, she was seen as rightful

heir to the Throne of England and Ireland as well as Queen of Scotland and one day of France,

which would have been an extraordinary union.

She was widowed a year after marriage there and as a divide Catholic returning to an

abrasively Protestant Scotland, she struggled to overcome rivalries in her own country.

Eventually, after Barry Spattel, she fled to Protestant England where she was implicated

in plots to overthrow Elizabeth and it was Elizabeth herself, who signed Mary's death

warrant.

We admit to discuss the life and times of Mary Queen of Scots are David Forsyth, Principal

Curator in the Scottish History and Archaeology Department at National Museums Scotland,

Anna Groundwater teaching fellow in history at the University of Edinburgh and John Guy,

Fellow of Claire College University of Cambridge.

John Guy, Mary was born in 1542, who were the most important people in her immediate

family at that time.

Her father James V of Scotland died six days after her birth, so she was brought up in Scotland

...