Mary, Queen of Scots’ last letter is going on display in 2026 – five interesting facts about her other writing
The last letter of Mary, Queen of Scots goes on display in 2026 for the first time in almost a decade. Deposed from her Scottish throne in 1567, Mary spent 20 years in captivity across Scotland and England before she was executed for plotting against her cousin and captor, Elizabeth I of England. Writing that final letter was one of the last things Mary did before mounting the scaffold on February 8, 1587.
As I explore in my PhD thesis, writing was a key concern for Mary throughout her captivity. She wrote hundreds of letters as well as poems and prose essays, using her words as a means of influence with her supporters, jailers and a reading public at large. Here are five things you should know about her from her writing.
1. French was her language of choice – but it wasn’t all she could write
Sent to France at the age of five, Mary developed a lifelong attachment to the country and its language. Studying under the French poet Pierre de Ronsard, she had a particular fondness for French poetry. It was here that Mary first began composing poems of her own, with short verses penned in prayer books belonging to her female family members. French also remained her language of choice for writing throughout her life, even after she returned to rule Scotland in 1561.
However, contrary to popular myth, Mary was also fluent in her native Scots, speaking and writing letters in it throughout her reign.
2. She was deposed and imprisoned for poems she (allegedly) wrote
In February 1567, Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley, was killed, and by May of the same year she had married the Earl of Bothwell – the man widely believed to have killed him.
According to her rebellious lords, her own poetry attested to her guilt of adultery and murder. In the “casket sonnets” – so-called for the silver gilt casket they were discovered within – Mary had apparently declared her love for Bothwell while Darnley was still alive. The poems were even produced as evidence against her at the hearings held to decide her fate after she escaped to England in 1568.
To this day literary historians remain divided on whether the sonnets were actually written by Mary or forged by her enemies. Whatever the truth may be, they highlight the political stakes Mary’s writing entailed.
3. Propaganda painted her as a monster and a witch – but she had very different views of herself
Following Darnley’s murder, Mary became the subject of a slew of derogatory propaganda. One Edinburgh placard painted her as a naked mermaid (a symbol of prostitution). Elsewhere across Britain, written propaganda also imagined her as monstrous classical women like the snake-haired Medusa and the witches Medea and Circe.
Even in prison, Mary didn’t take such slander lying down. In one letter to Elizabeth I in 1568 she wrote: “I am not an enchanter” and “I am not of the nature of the basilisk.” The basilisk was a mythical creature interchangeable with Medusa because both were known for their serpentine nature and ability to kill with a mere look. In these written rejections of her negative public image, Mary hoped to prove her propagandists wrong and persuade the English queen to help restore her to her throne.
4. She saw herself as more a king than a woman
Popular culture has always contrasted the masculine, intellectual Elizabeth against the feminine, emotional Mary – most notably, the 2018 film had Saoirse Ronan’s Mary wishing she had emulated Elizabeth’s decision to remain unmarried. Yet, while Elizabeth I famously declared that she had “the heart and stomach of a king”, Mary’s writing reveals she also saw herself as more a king than a woman.
In two poems written and published during her imprisonment, she notably compares herself to the biblical kings Solomon and David. Both were common figures of comparison for monarchs who wanted to display their power and virtue – Henry VIII, Elizabeth and James VI and I (Mary’s son) had all done so during their reigns.
Mary’s message was clear: though ousted from her throne, she would never stop projecting herself as a monarch. She too was a king first, and a woman second.
5. She wanted to control her public persona – even in death
Though she had been charged with treason by the English government, in her final letter Mary told her brother-in-law, Henry III of France, that she was dying for her Catholic faith. Throughout her imprisonment Mary tried to control the public view disseminated of her through writing – on several occasions even trying to stop the circulation of derogatory books published about her in England and France.
Her conscious attempts to control the narrative only strengthened in the lead up to her execution. In a letter to the Spanish ambassador, written after she had received news of her death sentence, Mary claimed she could hear construction in the great hall of her prison at Fotheringhay, stating: “I think it is to make a scaffold to have me play out the final act of the tragedy.”
For Mary, her end was a performance that she sought to influence and control, and her presentation on the scaffold – carrying a crucifix and wearing a petticoat in the red of martyrdom – only played into this. Given how enduring the view of Mary as a martyr became in the years following her death, it would seem, on that count at least, that she won.
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Emily Hay has previously received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).