Mary became Queen of Scotland in December 1542 when she was just six days old. However, her minority was plagued by factional infighting as well as war with England. In 1548, to ensure her safety from a forced marriage with Edward VI, she was sent to France where in April 1558 she married the future Francis II. He succeeded to the throne the following year and Mary became Queen of France but his reign was short as he died in December 1560. Mary, who was on the cusp of turning 18 years old and felt alienated in the new French regime, decided to return to Scotland to fill the void left by the death of her mother, Mary of Guise. However, Scotland was a country in religious turmoil because in August 1560 Parliament had abolished the Roman Catholic faith across the Kingdom.
Mary arrived back in Scotland on 19 August 1561 and attempted to steer a path of toleration between the two religious factions. She partially recognised the new Scottish Presbyterian church but concurrently remained resolutely Roman Catholic herself and also attempted to arrange a marriage alliance with Spain, the bastion of Catholicism. The latter came to nothing and instead Mary opted to marry Henry Stuart (Stewart), Lord Darnley. Although a Protestant, the union was not a success and the two became estranged. When Mary had their son, James (later James VI of Scotland and James I of England), christened as a Catholic fears began to grow amongst the Protestant magnates.
Matters came to a head in February 1567 when Darnley was murdered. The pro-Catholic Earls of Argyll, Bothwell and Huntly devised a plan to assassinate Darnley at Craigmillar Castle near Edinburgh. Perhaps sensing danger, he opted to stay in his town house within the city itself but, on the night of 9 February 1567, this was destroyed in a gunpowder explosion. Darnley survived the blast but was found strangled outside the burning building. The connivance of the Queen was suspected and these rumours were only fuelled when Mary married one of the leading conspirators - James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell - in May 1567. The Protestant magnates rose up in rebellion against the Queen and gathered their forces. The two factions met at Carberry Hill on 15 June 1567 and, when Bothwell's troops refused to fight, Mary surrendered to her opponents.
