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CHAPTER SEVEN

Bothwell

Soon everyone in Europe heard the news. The Queen of France and the Queen of England wrote angry letters to me. Who killed the King they asked. I was very unhappy at this time, James. We looked for the killers, but we could not find them. Please believe me, James. The Scots lords are difficult men. Some were friends, some were enemies, but they changed all the time.

Many people in Scotland said: ‘Bothwell killed Lord Darnley.’ I heard them, outside the castle, and in the town. But I never believed it. People in Edinburgh sold horrible stories and pictures of Bothwell the same day that Darnley died. It was too soon. Perhaps Darnley’s killers wrote these stories about Bothwell, before they killed Darnley.

I don’t think Lord Bothwell killed your father, James. He was a good friend to me in difficult times. He was a good strong, clever man, and he worked hard. I liked that. A lot of women liked him, I think.

Three times that spring, he asked me to marry him. He had a wife, and I could not marry again, so soon. I asked him to wait.

Then, on24th April, I rode out of Edinburgh to the north. I had five or six friends with me. Six miles outside the town, Lord Bothwell met us, with an army.

‘Why are you here, my lord’ I said.

He smiled.’ Because I want to meet you, Mary, ‘he said. ‘I want you to come with me to my castle. ‘He rode next to me, and his men rode between me and my friends.

I was afraid, and a little excited, too. ‘But, my lord, you can’t do this’ I said. ‘I don’t want to come with you now.’

‘But I want you, Mary,’ he said. ‘Your friends can’t stop me. I love you, and I want to marry you. What’s wrong with that?’

I said nothing. What could I say? I liked him, and he had an army. I had only six friends. So I rode with him to his castle in Dunbar, and stayed there two weeks. And then… He was a strong man, and I was only a woman. And I did like him, James. I liked him very much.

After two weeks in Dunbar, Bothwell and I rode back to Edinburgh. His wife did not want him, and was happy to divorce him. So, on 15th May 1567, I married him.

He was a good man, James. A much better man than your father. I needed a strong man to help me rule the country.

But I was wrong. I understand that now. All the Scots lords were afraid of Bothwell, and many of them were his enemies. They had an army, and on 15th June, Bothwell and I rode out to fight them.

We met them at Carberry Hill. It was a hot day, and the two big armies stood, and looked, and waited. Their army had a big flag with a picture of your poor dead father, Darnley, on it. Under the picture, there were the words ‘Find my killers, oh God.’

‘Come on, my lord, ‘I said to Bothwell. ‘Our army is better than theirs - let’s fight them!’

Both well rode up and down, and talked to his men. But they didn’t want to fight. They talked, and looked at the flag, and waited. Then some of them walked home.

At five o’clock that evening Lord Kirkcaldy rode from his army to talk to us. He said to me, ‘My lady, leave your husband, and come with us. We don’t want men to die.’

And so, because our men didn’t want to fight, I went with him. It was a very bad day for me. They took me back to Edinburgh, and people in the streets screamed at me: ‘Kill the woman! She sleeps with her husband’s killer! We want James to be King! Kill her now!’

I was unhappy, and afraid, and I was pregnant again. They took me to Lochleven Castle, and put me in a room like a prison. There, I did not eat for two weeks, and Bothwell’s children - there were two babies - were born dead. I nearly died too - I was so angry and tired and ill. Then, one day after the babies died, Lord Lindsay gave me a letter. It said:

I, Mary, Queen of Scots, give the kingdom of Scotland to my son, James. From today, James is the new King of Scots. But because he is a child, the Earl of Moray, my half - brother, can rule the country for him.

Because I was afraid, and tired, and ill, I wrote my name on the letter: Mary. But it is not important, James, it doesn’t change anything. I am Queen of Scots, not you. That letter changes nothing.

Bothwell went over the sea, and died in a prison in Denmark. I was a prisoner in Lochleven for a year. A lot of people in Europe were angry about that. Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Earl of Moray. ‘You cannot keep a Queen in prison, ‘she said. ‘It is very wrong!’

I was pleased about that. But Moray didn’t listen.

Lord Douglas lived in the castle, and his young son, William, liked me. One day, there was a wedding in the castle. People sang and danced and drank. William Douglas gave me some old women’s clothes. I put the clothes on, and walked quietly out of the castle with him. He shut the castle door behind us, to keep his father’s friends in. Then we got on some horses, and rode away through the night.

All my friends came back to me. Soon I had a big army.’ Mary is our Queen again’ people said. ‘Give her back her son!’ You were in Earl Moray’s castle, James, so I came to fight him. I rode with my army to Langside, near Glasgow. And there…

There, James…

There, my son, I lost the fight. I am so sorry. I had many good, strong men in my army, but Earl Moray’s men were stronger. Many of my men died, and some ran away. After the fight, I ran away too.

I did not want to go to prison again. So I rode south, to England. ‘Queen Elizabeth wants to help me,’ I thought. ‘She understands. She wrote to Moray and she is a Queen, like me. I can come back to Scotland with her army, kill Moray, and find my baby son James. I am in England but I am free. I can try again.’

I was wrong about that, too. Very wrong.