[MR] Wikipedia: Birth of Lord Darnley

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

On this date in in 1545, Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany (aka "Lord Darnley")
was born. He is best known as the second husband of Mary Queen of Scots.

Darnley's pedigree made him a possible successor to both the thrones of
Scotland and England in his own right. He was courtly, hansom, a fine
swordsman, avid hunter, etc. He was also a drunk, mercurial, and proved to
be an embarrassment  to Queen Mary. She refused to grant him the promised
crown matrimonial, which would have made him the reigning King of Scots.

On 9 March 1566, Darnley and a group of cronies invaded the Queen's
chambers and severely daggered her secretary (and suspected lover) David
Rizzio 56 times in the approved Scottish manner. Darnley is said to have
restrained the Queen while his followers dealt Rizzio no good. So much for
Mary and Darnley's already not so happy marriage.

Darnley was to pay for his crime on the night of 9 February 1567. An
explosion ripped through Kirk o' Field, the house in Edinburgh where
Darnley was staying. The next morning Darnley's body and that of his valet
were found in a nearby orchard. Apparently they had been smothered, as
there were no marks of violence apparent on either body. The chief suspect
was the Queen's new lover and soon-to-be next husband, James Hepburn, 4th
Earl of Bothwell. Nothing was ever proven. Ah, Scottish politics! They make
Great Britain's rather messy modern version look so tame.

More about Lord Darnley is found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stuart,_Lord_Darnley .

A separate page about Kirk o' Field and Darnley's murder can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_o%27_Field .

An interesting composite sketch of the events at Kirk o' Field sent to
Elizabeth's spymaster, William Cecil, is included as a thumbnail on the
above Wikipedia page. An enlargement is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_o%27_Field#/media/File:Kirk_o'_Field_contemporary_sketch.jpg
(or click on the thumbnail).

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆