2 Bizarre Historical Mysteries Explained

Darnley was born at Temple Newsome in Yorkshire, most likely in 1546, to Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and Lady Margaret Douglas.

That parentage made him dangerous from the cradle, and through his grandmother Margaret Tudor, he carried a legitimate claim to the English throne, and through his father he held a claim to the Scottish one.

In an age when royal blood was the most valuable and hazardous substance a person could possess, Darnley had it from both sides and he grew up polished for royal greatness.

He stood over six feet at a time when that was remarkable and he could dance, ride, hunt, and play the lute.

His mother had spent years maneuvering to put him near a throne When Elizabeth permitted him to travel north to Scotland in early 1565, plenty of observers suspected the English Queen was making a mistake she'd regret.

When Mary, Queen of Scots, got a proper look at him that February, she was reportedly taken with him almost immediately, describing him as the best proportioned man she'd ever seen.

She was a young widow searching for a husband.

He was a Catholic with Tudor blood, and the political logic seemed irresistible.

married at hollyrood on july 29 1565 by catholic right and mary proclaimed him king henry elizabeth who hadn't been asked and whose succession the match directly threatened was furious the charm lasted a matter of months and darnley turned out to be vain idle and unreliable with a temper that got worse when he drank which was often He demanded the crown matrimonial, which would have made him king in his own right, and kept him on the throne even if Mary passed before him.

But she refused.

He sulked, drank harder, and started listening to men who had their own uses for a resentful king.

On the evening of March 9th, 1566, Darnley led armed Protestant lords into Holyrood Palace and up a private stair into the Queen's dinner chamber.

Their target was David Rizzio, Mary's Italian private secretary, a man the conspirators claimed had too much influence over her.

They dragged Rizzio screaming from the room while one of the intruders reportedly held a pistol against the Queen, all while Mary was six months pregnant.

Rizzio was stabbed dozens of times, and Darnley's own dagger was reportedly left planted in the body as a signature.

Within two days, Mary had talked her husband into abandoning his fellow plotters, and the pair slipped out of Holyrood by night and rode for Dunbar.

The conspirators, exposed by the very king who'd recruited their protection, scattered into exile.

Darnley swore he'd known nothing about it, but nobody believed him, and the men he'd betrayed didn't forget.

Mary gave birth to a son, the future James VI, on June 19, 1566, which secured the succession and removed the last practical reason to tolerate her oafish husband.

By that winter, the marriage was over in everything but law, and many powerful people had become uncomfortable with Darnley's ongoing habit of freely breathing air.

In late 1566, at Craig Miller Castle outside Edinburgh, Mary's leading counselors discussed how to free her from Darnley, floating divorce among other options.

According to later testimony, some of those lords went further and signed a bond pledging to remove him by other means.

If that document ever existed, it has never been found, which isn't too surprising since that's not the sort of thing that gets tossed into the official archives, generally speaking.

Darnley, increasingly isolated, didn't attend his own son's baptism at Stirling that December, a fact that scandalized the court.