Mary, Queen of Scots – Background and Classroom Activity

Guest Post: Barbara Henderson

Author of The Boy, the Witch and the Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots – Background and Classroom Activity

Mary and Me

Summer 1561. A teenage girl travels to Scotland. Having grown up on the continent, she is more comfortable in another language, but Scotland is her home now, both her destination and her destiny. She probably feels some trepidation as she sets foot on Scottish soil for the first time since her childhood, many years ago. Her name? Marie Stuart – Mary, Queen of Scots.

Summer 1991. Another teenage girl travels to Scotland to begin her studies. Having grown up on the continent, she too is more comfortable in another language.  But like Mary, Scotland is her home now, her destination, her destiny. She certainly feels trepidation as she sets foot on Scottish soil for the first time since her childhood, many years ago. I know that for certain because that girl was me.

By a strange coincidence, Mary Queen of Scots shares a birthday with me, a fact I discovered whilst building a career as a writer of historical novels for children. That seemingly insignificant detail sealed the deal: I resolved to write about Mary. She more than deserved a children’s novel, because, you see, Mary gets quite a bad press, by and large.

What do people remember about Mary?

Ask anyone, and I guarantee that the first thing which will spring to mind about Mary is her tragic fate – her execution on the orders of her own cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. It seems unthinkable, desperately sad, the most unfortunate fate.

Choosing Mary’s end as material for a children’s book is possibly unwise: too traumatic, too problematic. But wait – that is not all of Mary’s story. Let’s take a closer look at the life of the eponymous queen.

A Closer Look at Mary, Queen of Scots

Born on 8^th December 1542, Mary did not have the easiest of starts in life. Her father, dismayed by his recent defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss and disappointed not to have produced a male heir, he is said to have turned his face to the wall and said: “It began with a lass, and it will gang with a lass.” Mary was crowned Queen of Scots aged just nine months. 

Henry VIII, King of England, was keen to force a marriage between Mary and his own son, Edward in the Treaty of Greenwich. When Scotland renounced this agreement, Henry attacked. The ensuing violence lasted years and is known as The Rough Wooing. For her own protection, five-year-old Mary was sent to her mother’s homeland of France to be raised at the French Court, destined to marry the French Crown Prince. Mary and François married at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 1558, just as Elizabeth II ascended to the English throne.

A year later, Mary’s husband became King of France, making her Queen Consort. But life in the 16^th century was fragile. François died suddenly, and now the French court had no more use of the widowed Mary. She chose to return to her homeland and claim her throne.

However, Scotland was now in the grip of the Reformation – how would the returning Catholic queen fare in a now Protestant country?

Off to a Good Start

Without giving too much away, it is fair to say that Mary got a lot of things right at the beginning of her reign. I freely admit that she made mistakes – especially in her choice of trusted men! Her downfall was possibly inevitable after that.

In The Boy, the Witch and the Queen of Scots, I have chosen to focus on the first year or so of her reign. Hindsight can blind us, you see. Because we observe Mary through the lens of her lengthy imprisonment and her terrible execution, we forget that she was once a strikingly beautiful, intelligent and adventurous teenager, navigating an impossible path in a hatefully divided country. We should not judge her so harshly.

A Classroom Drama Activity: Freeze-Frame Performance

Look at the timeline of Mary’s life and death at https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/mary-queen-of-scots/mary-queen-of-scots/life-and-deathline-of-mary-queen-of-scots/.

In groups, decide on the 10 or 15 main events from this resource.

Now create a short performance in 10-second freeze-frames (frozen pictures), one for each event you have chosen. A narrator should tell the audience what each picture is about. This works well with some props and costumes, as well as music to underscore the performance. For extra professionalism, lights can be dimmed or switched off between the freeze frames, allowing the actors to change position.

For a lasting effect, why not take pictures of the freeze-frames and compile them into a comic book or wall display, adding speech bubbles?