C16th makeups: Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary Stuart (1542—1587), better known as Mary, Queen of Scots, reigned as Mary I of Scotland 1542 to 1567 and as Queen Consort of France from 1559 to 1560. She became queen of Scots when she was six days old; she was betrothed to the dauphin of France at eight and sent to live in France to be safe from the English; she returned to Scotland a widow at eighteen– her mother-in-law, Catherine de’ Medici, had become regent and France had withdrawn its support of Mary’s claim to the throne of England.
On her return she found a religiously and politically divided realm and a nobility, and especially a half-brother, unwilling to hand over power to an eighteen year-old girl who seemed more French than Scots. She went through a further two husbands (and was suspected of involvement in the murder of the first of them) before being forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son.
In 1568 she fled to England where she was imprisoned for nineteen years and eventually executed by her cousin Elizabeth I.
A dream character for any film-maker looking to make a melodramatic costume movie.
In 2007 it looked as if Scarlett Johansson was attached to a new movie about Mary but, as so often happens, a year later it emerged that the movie was still awaiting the green light. It can now probably be assumed to be dead.