Infant Mary
Mary Queen of Scots
The infant Mary was crowned Queen of Scots in the Chapel Royal in 1543. Stirling castle was to be her safe haven. Nevertheless, Mary became a political football as England and France competed for influence over a kingdom whose monarch was too young to rule.
The English king Henry VIII waged war against Scotland – the Rough Wooing – to force her marry his son.
But Mary wed the son of the French king instead, the first of her three marriages. In 1567, the Catholic queen was forced to abdicate by hostile Protestant noblemen.
Twenty years later she was dead, beheaded after a long imprisonment in England having fled Scotland to seek the protection of her cousin Queen Elizabeth.
Stirling Castle is a great symbol of Scottish independence & a source of national pride.
The Castle's long, turbulent history is associated with great figures from Scotland’s past such as William Wallace & Mary Queen of Scots.
