December 14: Mary, Queen of Scots

As today is the anniversary of Mary, Queen of Scots, becoming Queen of Scotland on the death of her father, King James V, on 14th December 1542, I wanted to share a portrait of her.

This is my very favourite of her and shows Mary with her first husband, Francis II of France. It's an illumination on parchment and is taken from a book of hours belonging to Catherine de' Medici, Francis's mother. It's in the collection at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

Trivia: Francis and Mary married on 24th April 1558 and became King and Queen of France on 10th July 1559 when Francis was 15 and Mary was 16. Unfortunately, Francis died on 5th December 1560 and Mary returned to Scotland in August 1561.