Death of James V: Mary, Queen of Scots Is Queen at a Week Old

James V was the son of Margaret Tudor and James IV of Scotland. Due to that, he had a claim to the English throne. It was possible in 1542 that James never considered getting his hands on the English crown. By this point Henry VIII had the heir to the throne, Prince Edward. The prince was still young, with plenty of chance to marry and have children.

He became King of Scotland at the age of five months old, when his father died at Flodden Field, one of the most infamous battles between Scotland and England. He would not see his mother much after she was forced to flee Scotland for England and numerous occasions. He was raised through his regents.

He married twice, but only his second wife gave birth to a legitimate child. He did have illegitimate sons, but they could not take the throne due to their illegitimacy. However, they did gain favour in the Scottish court.

When James V died on December 14, Mary Stewart was just six days old. She would become Queen of Scotland, but the country was ruled by a series of regents, with her mother taking control of her possessions when she was two years old.

England and Scotland were still at war, but Henry VIII wanted peace. When a Protestant became the regent of Scotland, the English king took the opportunity to suggest a marriage between his son and the Scottish Queen. It led to the Treaty of Greenwich, which had a few clauses within it—favourable to the Scottish and the English. One of the biggest clauses was that if the marriage came to an end without issue, the two countries would become separate again. They were still separate entities legally.

However, the Catholic Cardinal Beaton took over as regent in 1553, and brought a pro-French, Catholic regimen to the country, something that angered Henry VIII. It led to the treaty dissolving in December of that year, and the betrothal was off. England and Scotland were back at war.

To keep Mary safe, Scotland turned to France for help. After that, she was sent to the French court and betrothed to her future first husband, the Dauphin Francis. Henry II of France became like a father to the five-year-old girl, and she grew close to her future husband. In fact, when both Henry II and her husband died about a year within each other, she was distraught.

She was raised as a French Catholic, and loved her religion. However, it caused problems when she moved back to a Protestant Scotland.

Something that worried Elizabeth I of England was her Catholic cousin’s claim to the English throne. Mary continually tried to get her cousin to agree to her being named her heir, but Elizabeth always had conditions—one of those marrying Robert Dudley.

It was her want for the English throne that led to her execution. Elizabeth set up a series of events that would catch Mary in the middle of a plot to take the throne for herself. She was executed for treason on February 8, 1587.

The thrones would eventually be joined together. Mary's son, James VI of Scotland, would later become James I of England upon the death of Elizabeth I.