Thanks, great link. Funny you should raise the subject. Only last night, I was watching Simon Schama's 23 year old account of Elizabeth and the two Marys (
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b ... -the-queen), and it struck me, as a mere sassenach, how much of this Mary's
colourful wretched history had somehow passed me by.
Or maybe I was just crap at schoolbook history? (I was.) Or too preoccupied with other teenage stuff at the time, or simply too confused by the two Marys to ever get round to sorting them out and looking at the story properly?
There, that's my public confession over. But I was a little surprised to read on BBC Scotland (
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... t-59351881) that, among 2,000
British (not Scottish) interviewees:
51% did not recognise her portrait, over three quarters (77%) did not know Mary was held captive for 19 years, and 48% were unaware which century she ascended the throne. And nearly three quarters (73%) of the 2,000 interviewees did not know how many children Mary had.
To my eternal disgrace, I think I'd have scored zero on all those questions apart from the century.
I vaguely knew about Darnley and his murder by Dudley, but somehow my mind had been elsewhere when it came to putting all the details of the story together. I suppose I must have been thinking, typical Tudor/Stuart history, treachery, executions, serial marriages, serial murders, exiles, France, yadda yadda yadda. More murders, more executions, another Mary or two, everybody desperate for male heirs, and some more murders just to keep the pot boiling. Like Game of Thrones without the dragons.
How very wrong I was! Must try harder. (And I will, I promise.) Although I'm still surprised that 49% of Britons would recognise Mary Queen of Scots from the portrait alone. I must try that out on the folk at the local bus stop.
BJ