Ainslie Tavern Bond

A week later, at an Edinburgh tavern, Bothwell produced a document endorsing him as a fit husband for the Queen.

He collected the signatures of a remarkable number of bishops, earls, and lords, and history remembers it as the Ainslie Tavern Bond.

What happened next destroyed Mary, and on April 24th, as she returned from visiting her son at Stirling, Bothwell intercepted her with a large armed force and carried her to Dunbar Castle.

Whether this was a kidnapping, a charade arranged between them, or something darker has been argued for four and a half centuries.