Mary Queen of Scots (and son)

On this day in 1567 Mary Queen of Scots was deposed and replaced by her son James VI. James was a year old; Mary was 24.

Scotland had a thing for young monarchs. Mary herself had become queen when she was four days old. She married the king of France when she was 14. She had an eventful but unhappy life, shuttling between France and Scotland, spending the last 20 years of it imprisoned by her former subjects and then by her cousin Queen Elizabeth of England, who had her executed in 1587. Being high-born is no picnic. To most of the people she knew and trusted Mary Queen of Scots was either a convenience or a dangerous nuisance. She appears five times in A Book of Ages.

Her son, James VI of Scotland, would become James I of England, patron of Shakespeare and the King James Bible. He appears once in A Book of Ages.