[MR] BBC: Mary, Queen of Scots Casket Bought for Museum

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

Today the BBC offers a piece about the acquisition of a silver casket
believed to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots.

The piece in question is an elegant silver box of late 15th or early 16th
century French workmanship. It may have been a gift from François II,
Mary's first husband, and came to Scotland with her return in 1561. Whether
it is the same casket that held the infamous "Casket Letters" that
implicated Mary and husband #3, the Earl of Bothwell, in the murder of
husband #2, Lord Darnley, cannot be proven. Nor can it be proven that the
Casket Letters themselves were genuine, but they brought about Mary and
Bothwell's 1567 downfall.

The casket has been in the Hamilton family since the late 1600s. It was
sold to the National Museums of Scotland for £1.8 million. (Whew!) The
casket was held at Lennoxlove House, current seat of the Duke of Hamilton.
Like most castles, Lennoxlove is expensive to maintain, and the cash will
pay for much-needed repairs. (That makes me think twice about dreams of my
own castle.)

The story is at
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-61494813 .

More about the Casket Letters is at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casket_letters .

Here is a link to Lennoxlove House:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennoxlove_House .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆