The mysterious Murder of Lord Darnley.
Mary had quite a dastardly relationship with Lord Darnley. He was regularly visiting male brothels in Edinburgh, he was plotting to overthrow her rule to promote his own claim to both the Scottish and English thrones and he had stabbed—which left to him murdering, one of Mary’s closet companions, David Rizzo, her private secretary, while he and Mary were dining together. Mary was keen to divorce him. When Mary met with her senior advisers at Craigmillar, they agreed to look into a divorce, but they might have privately realised that it would be much safer to murder him. If Darnley was dead he couldn’t carry on plotting against the queen. Although it is not certain that this was the case — it is plausible.
Going on with the theme of a planned murder, it is most likely that Mary didn’t actually know that the murder was to take place. Mary, according to sources that believe this to be the case, ‘didn’t want anything done which damaged her honour’ so her advisers concluded that if Darnley was to be slaughtered, Mary could know nothing of it.
Perhaps it was also insisted that Mary know nothing of the murder as the motives of the Lords at Graigmilliar became much bolder. In can be concluded, that within the time of the first discussion with Mary and the final murder of Darnley, they not only planned to murder the King Consort, but also the Queen, Mary. Despite most of Scotland being devoutly protestant, Mary was a catholic, this angered many, especially some lords in her court. If Mary were to die along with Darnley, her protestant son, James would succeed her. It’s also noted that some English noble-men were in on the murder of Darnley, most likely due to the fact that having Mary be killed, Elizabeth no longer had catholic threat.
Throughout all of the scheming Mary was still contemplating divorce and asked Archbishop Hamilton for papal help, but he eventually advised that it ‘could not be achieved on an acceptable basis’. It is most likely that Mary gave up on her quest for divorce, surrendering to the frightfulness of Darnley’s cunning and angry nature.
Lord Darnley had been staying in Glasgow, and on the realisation that Mary had to stay in the marriage, Mary convinced her husband to come back with her to Edinburgh—some historians suggest that Mary did this in order to make the murder of Darnley easier, although it is more likely that Mary wanted to keep Darnley under watchful vision (as he had the habit for plotting against her), which would be much more possible at her own court, and also due to the fact that having more children with Darnley strengthened her claim to the English throne.
But who was to kill Darnley? Well the answer is simple—james Hepburn, 4th earl of Bothwell, also known as Lord Bothwell, who would later become the third husband of Mary, queen of scots.
On the 10th February 1567, Lord Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, in the Royal Mile, just a few hundred yards from Holyrood House where his wife, Mary Queen of Scots, and baby son, the future king James, were staying.
Darnley was recovering from smallpox or syphilis at this time, but he was completely ignorant to the fact that the cabinets of his lodgings were being filled with gunpowder.
The house had been completely destroyed and Darnley’s body had been found in the neighbouring garden. Historian Magnus Magnusson wrote of how Darnley’s body showed signs of strangulation and concluded that Darnley had been strangled to death before the explosion. It is possible that Darnley had either fled – or made an attempt to flee the burning house, but before being able to do so, he was strangled.
Bothwell was accused of the murder of Lord Darnley, but a detailed investigation on the matter did not take place. It can be assumed that Mary was persuaded against the investigation, possibly by some of the lords that did not want their own part of the conspiracy to come to surface. Mary and Bothwell were close – which is perhaps one of the reasons Mary did not also end up victimised by the scheme. Mary and Bothwell had even been spending the day together the day before Darnley’s murder. Due to Marys fondness for Bothwell, the charges were acquitted, is can be concluded that Mary truly believed Bothwell to be innocent.
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