ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor, gouache and gold ink, July 2007. Mary Stuart had an eventful and tragic life. She was born in 1542,the daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, his French wife. James died days later and as there were no other male relatives, Mary became Queen of Scotland. She was crowned nine months later. Henry VIII wanted to marry Mary to his son, Edward, but instead a treaty was drawn up with France and it was agreed Mary should marry the French Dauphin. She travelled to France, aged 5,and lived at the French Court for the next ten years, marrying Dauphin Francois in 1558. She wsas considered intelligent and a beauty. A year later she was crowned Queen Consort Of France. However, in 1560 Francois died. A few months later Mary returned to Scotland, a country she hardly knew. During her time in Scotland she was to make one bad decision after another. Her life at the sophisticated French Court had not prepared her for the often difficult and treacherous complexities of Scottish politics. Religion was also a problem, Mary being devoutly Catholic while many of her subjects had embraced Protestantism. The preacher John Knox in particular spoke long and loudly against Mary's Catholic ways and the evils of women rulers. Then there was her cousin Elizabeth, Queen of England. Mary wanted to be named as Elizabeth's successor (Mary was next in line and many Catholics saw her as the rightful heir to the throne and Elizabeth as a heretic). Various meetings were arranged but the two Queens never ever met. There was certainly an eleent of curiosity and jealousy between the cousins - the reports of Mary's beauty intrigued Elizabeth. Elizabeth told Mary she would name her a successor if she married a man of her choosing, and she put forward Robert Dudley. Mary was insulted and refused as Dudley had long been known as Elizabeths favourite and was rumoured to be her lover. Instead she married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnly, who was her cousin and also had a claim to the English throne. Elizabeth was furious. Niether were the Protestant Lords of Scotland happy either - they rose against Mary and Darnley but they were defeated and fled. Mary soon became pregnant but the marriage was an unhappy one, Darnley being a spoilt and vain individual, rude and arrogant and greedy for power. In 1566 Darnely conspired with the very Lords who had risen against him and one evening broke into Mary's apartment and murdered her Spanish secretary David Rizzio, stabbing him to death in front of her. Mary was heavily pregnant at the time and not long after gave birth to a son, James, in 1566. Then, in early 1567, the house where Darnley had been staying exploded and Darnley was found strangled in the garden. Many believed mary had been involved in the plot to murder him and her reputation sank even lower. Worse was to come. After visiting her child and returning to Edinburgh, the Earl of Bothwell, generally believed to be the prime instigator in the murder of Darnley, abducted Mary and raped her. A month later they returned to Edinburgh and she married him. The other Scottish Lords raised an army against Mary and Bothwell. She surrendered on condition the would let Bothwell go. They imprisoned her at Loch Leven castle. She miscarried twins. She was then forced to abdicate in favour of her son, the year old James. In 1568 Mary managed to escape Loch Leven dressed as a servant. She raised a small army but it was defeated and she fled over the border to England and her cousin Elizabeth's realm. Part Two to follow....