Royal Road to Fotheringay: A Novel of Mary Queen of Scots

Of all the books that I have read about Mary, Queen of Scots, this one seems to be nearer what I have read about her in history.

It took me a while to get through this one because i was so determined to get the dates and people committed to memory, but wow was Jean Plaidy thorough! This was so entertaining and eye opening and although "fiction", an excellent history lesson painted with vivid images and very intelligent writing. The research that must have gone into this books overwhelms me and I went out and bought several of her others to work my way through those as well. Very interesting and hard to put down.

Mary Stuart led a remarkable life, being the daughter of the King of Scotland and a French noblewoman. Her father died when she was very young and she inherited the throne upon his death with her mother acting as Regent until she was of an age to rule herself. Mary was sent to live in Paris so that she could be raised in the affluent French court and also being betrothed to the young French prince, who would inherit the throne of France upon his father's death. Unfortunately for Mary, things don't go the way they planned. Her young prince dies and Mary is sent back to Scotland as she is no longer needed in France. Mary is seen as an outsider in Scotland immediately as she was raised French and cannot even speak English; and worse, she is a Catholic who does not believe in her country's religion: Protestantism. Her mother passes on and Mary is left to rule a country alone that she knows nothing about. Mary makes two foolhardy marriages and the only good to come of her second marriage is she produces an heir, James, who will go on to be named Queen Elizabeth's heir as well, and will be the first ruler of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Mary eventually has to seek the help of her cousin Queen Elizabeth of England, however due to political turmoil, and Elizabeth's constant fear of her throne turning over to a "legitimate" heir, Elizabeth imprisons Mary for the rest of her life, fearful that English Catholics will sympathize with Mary and put her on the throne instead of Protestant Elizabeth. Jean Plaidy writes a very detailed account, not only of the subject of the book, but also of the time period, in each of her novels, this one being no exception. I always recommend historical fiction to someone who wants to learn a little bit about someone or a time period as it is usually fairly accurate to fact and is much easier and fun to read than a piece of non-fiction.

This is a wonderful, captivating work of historical fiction. Weaving a spellbinding tale out of a tapestry of actual events, the author, Victoria Holt, writing under one of several pen names that she used, recounts the tragic and dramatic tale of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.Born in Scotland, Mary, whose father, the King of Scotland, died when she was very young, was an only child. Her father's death left her mother, Marie De Guise of France, to rule as Regent in Scotland for her daughter. A wily woman, Marie saw danger to her daughter, if she remained in Scotland. So, she had Mary betrothed to Francois, the Dauphin of France, and sent her at a very young age to live in the French Court.A happy, pleasing, and bonnie child, she matured into a beautiful young woman and eventually married the Dauphin. After the unexpected death of the King, she and Francois went on to reign as King and Queen of France. Alas, her happness was short lived, as Francois was sickly and in poor health. After his premature death, there was no place for Mary in the court of her brother-in-law, Charles, the succeeding French King, thanks to the machinations of her evil mother-in-law, Catherine D'Medici.Mary then did the only thing left to do. She set sail for Scotland under the protection of border lord, James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, to reclaim her kingdom as its anointed Queen. Her mother, Marie De Guise, now dead, the Catholic Mary was faced with reclaiming a Protestant kingdom that she had not seen for many years, a kingdom over which her half brother, the illegitimate and Protestant James, meant to rule himself, irrespective of his bastardy.Little did Mary know of the travails that would await her. A quarrelsome group of lords and nobles, whose perfidy, deceit, and ruthless jockeying for power knew no bounds, would plague her brief reign. They would plot against her with her Protestant cousin in England, Elizabeth I, a Queen who ruled with her head and not with her heart. Mary's half brother, James, whose naked ambition was to wear the crown himself, was determined that Mary would be Queen in name only. He would stop at nothing to secure that which he felt was his by right, if not by birth. John Knox, a fire and brimstone religious fanatic, who held Scotland in his thrall, denounced the Catholic Mary at every opportunity, proclaiming her a wanton and rebuffing her overtures and requests for religious tolerance. This is what awaited Mary in Scotland, a harsh and most inhospitable land.This woman, who would be Queen, eventually decided to marry again and made the greatest mistake of all in electing to marry the young and dissolute Lord Henry Darnley, an English Catholic. Though royal by birth, he would eventually bring nothing but shame upon her, plotting against her and those loyal to her. Darnley was the catalyst for some of the greatest scandals in the history of Scotland. Notwithstanding Darnley's perfidy, Mary did her duty and, having been delivered of an infant

This is a wonderful, captivating work of historical fiction. Weaving a spellbinding tale out of a tapestry of actual events, the author, Victoria Holt, writing under one of several pen names that she used, recounts the tragic and dramatic tale of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.Born in Scotland, Mary, whose father, the King of Scotland, died when she was very young, was an only child. Her father's death left her mother, Marie De Guise of France, to rule as Regent in Scotland for her daughter. A wily woman, Marie saw danger to her daughter, if she remained in Scotland. So, she had Mary betrothed to Francois, the Dauphin of France, and sent her at a very young age to live in the French Court. A happy, pleasing, and bonnie child, she matured into a beautiful young woman and eventually married the Dauphin. After the unexpected death of the King, she and Francois went on to reign as King and Queen of France. Alas, her happness was short lived, as Francois was sickly and in poor health. After his premature death, there was no place for Mary in the court of her brother-in-law, Charles, the succeeding French King, thanks to the machinations of her evil mother-in-law, Catherine D'Medici.Mary then did the only thing left to do. She set sail for Scotland under the protection of border lord, James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell, to reclaim her kingdom as its anointed Queen. Her mother, Marie De Guise, now dead, the Catholic Mary was faced with reclaiming a Protestant kingdom that she had not seen for many years, a kingdom over which her half brother, the illegitimate and Protestant James, meant to rule himself, irrespective of his bastardy.Little did Mary know of the travails that would await her. A quarrelsome group of lords and nobles, whose perfidy, deceit, and ruthless jockeying for power knew no bounds, would plague her brief reign. They would plot against her with her Protestant cousin in England, Elizabeth I, a Queen who ruled with her head and not with her heart. Mary's half brother, James, whose naked ambition was to wear the crown himself, was determined that Mary would be Queen in name only. He would stop at nothing to secure that which he felt was his by right, if not by birth. John Knox, a fire and brimstone religious fanatic, who held Scotland in his thrall, denounced the Catholic Mary at every opportunity, proclaiming her a wanton and rebuffing her overtures and requests for religious tolerance. This is what awaited Mary in Scotland, a harsh and most inhospitable land.This woman, who would be Queen, eventually decided to marry again and made the greatest mistake of all in electing to marry the young and dissolute Lord Henry Darnley, an English Catholic. Though royal by birth, he would eventually bring nothing but shame upon her, plotting against her and those loyal to her. Darnley was the catalyst for some of the greatest scandals in the history of Scotland. Notwithstanding Darnley's perfidy, Mary did her duty and, having been delivered of an inf