The Murder of Lord Darnley, Husband of Mary Queen of Scots

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The murder of Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, had far-reaching implications. Historians differ over whether Mary was involved in the plot or was an intended victim. Either way, the violent death of the Queen’s estranged husband led to a wave of salacious gossip and contributed to her forced abdication, her long imprisonment in England and her eventual execution.

Who Was Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley?

Henry Stuart (or Stewart), Lord Darnley, was born around 1546, the eldest son of the Scottish Earl of Lennox. By virtue of his connections to the English throne (his grandmother was Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII and sister of Henry VIII) he was brought up at the English court under Elizabeth I.

Elizabeth was unmarried and so Darnley was a potential future claimant to the English throne through his Tudor blood (though, as Allan Massie notes, his claim was highly doubtful as Henry VIII had specified excluded Margaret’s descendants from the succession). Nevertheless Elizabeth kept him under her eye in England where he was brought up as a Protestant.

By all accounts Darnley’s courtly upbringing had given him everything he needed to make a success of his position. He was musically talented; he rode, danced and fenced well; he was an accomplished poet. Furthermore, he was considered to be extremely handsome. Naturally enough he had his faults to accompany his virtues, perhaps the most significant being the fact that he was extremely spoilt. His good points were to raise him to a throne; his bad were to cost him his life.

Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots

Darnley was allowed by Queen Elizabeth to travel to Scotland in 1565. It was here that he first encountered Mary, Queen of Scots, to whom he was also related through his grandmother Margaret Tudor. At the time Mary was seeking a second husband. Twenty three years old and previously married to the King of France, she had engaged in unsuccessful negotiations for marriage to both English and foreign suitors. Then she met Darnley.

Antonia Fraser discusses the possibility that Elizabeth had allowed Darnley to come to Scotland with the intention that he and Mary should marry, such an arrangement suiting English policies rather better than a match with a potential continental enemy. Darnley was certainly suitable, being well connected and full of charm. Mary fell in love with him, created him Earl of Ross and promptly married him.

The marriage (of which it appeared that Elizabeth did not, after all, approve) was not a success. For all his accomplishments, Darnley was spoilt and, according to Allan Massie, could be ‘petulant and angry when crossed or denied his own way’. He kept bad company and was unfaithful. Furthermore, he was ambitious. He wished to be king while Mary believed that as an anointed queen it was she and she alone who had the right to rule.

Because of these differences, the marriage rapidly broke down. Darnley was closely involved with the murder of Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio and she believed that her estranged husband had hoped, if not plotted, for her death. The birth of a son, later to become James VI and I, meant that the couple’s dynastic duty was done and there was no need to pretend to a reconciliation.

The Murder of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Despite their estrangement, when Darnley fell ill in the west of Scotland in 1567 Mary went personally to fetch him and escort him to Edinburgh. This behaviour was to raise suspicions about her complicity in his death. Darnley, still recuperating, was lodged in a house outside the walls of Edinburgh at a place called Kirk o’Field (a site now occupied by the University of Edinburgh).

On the 9 February Mary had declined her husband’s invitation to remain at his lodging overnight. In the early hours of the next morning, the house was destroyed by an explosion. Darnley and his servant were both killed – but the bodies were found in the garden, rather than the house itself and it was reported that Darnley, at least, had been strangled.

Many questions were raised, and remain unanswered, by the explosion. Was Darnley killed by the explosion? Had he discovered the plot and been killed trying to escape? Was Mary an intended target, or had she known about it and lured him to his death? It is known, however, that the men behind the plot were a group of Scotland’s leading nobles led by the ambitious and ruthless James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.

Whether Mary was involved or not, Darnley’s death, and her response to it, proved her undoing. Only four months after the murder she married Bothwell, who had rapidly divorced his wife. Despite Darnley’s unpopularity, this marriage also alienated the Scottish lords, on whose support Mary relied. They rose up in rebellion and she was forced to abdicate after the battle of Carberry Hill.

The Aftermath

The scandal which surrounded Mary, both in relation to the death of her second husband and her haste in acquiring her third, not only lost her the support of her own people but also offered Elizabeth I an excuse to keep her as a prisoner for many years. It will probably never be known whether or not Mary was implicated in the death of Darnley: but her marriage to him was an error of judgement which was ultimately to prove fatal to them both.

Resource About the Murder of Lord Darnley

Antonia Fraser Mary Queen of Scots Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1969

John Keay and Julia Keay (eds) Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland HarperCollins 1994

Allan Massie The Royal Stuarts Jonathan Cape 2010

Resource by J.Ellis

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