Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
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Henry Stewart (or Stuart, which was the style adopted by his father, and thence perpetuated as the House of Stuart), 1st Duke of Albany (7 December, 1545 – 9 or 10 February, 1567), Earl of Ross, commonly known as Lord Darnley, King Consort of Scotland, was the half first-cousin and second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of her son James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England.
Darnley was born on December 7, 1545, at Temple Newsam in Yorkshire, England, the son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and his wife Margaret Douglas. He was related to his future wife in at least three ways: They shared a grandmother in Margaret Tudor, putting both Mary and Darnley high in the line of succession for the English throne; Darnley was a descendant of a daughter of James II of Scotland and thus also in line for the throne of Scotland; and Darnley's family surname was due to a much more ancient connection to his male-line ancestor, Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland. On their marriage, which took place July 29, 1565 in the chapel of Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Darnley was given the title of "King of Scots," but he was a king consort only, with no royal powers.
The marriage was a disaster. Darnley was younger than Mary and not particularly mature for a nineteen-year-old. He was unpopular with the other nobles and had a mean and violent streak. Within a short time, Mary became pregnant, but Darnley grew more and more demanding. His jealousy of Mary's private secretary, David Rizzio, culminated in the bloody murder of the latter by Darnley and a group of his friends, in the presence of the queen herself at Holyrood Palace. Following the birth of her son, the future James VI of Scotland, the succession was more secure; in late 1566 and early 1567, Darnley and Mary appeared to be close to reconciliation, as she was often seen visiting his chambers. But on February 10, 1567, the bodies of Darnley and his rider and lover at the time were discovered in the gardens of the Hamiltons' house, Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, where they had been staying. An explosion had occurred that night at the house, but the evidence pointed to Darnley's having escaped that attempted assassination only to be murdered when he got outside. Suspicion fell on James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell and on Mary herself. Bothwell later abducted Mary, where he kept her for a week, at the end of which she had agreed to marry him, under pressure, duress, or desperation (Mary's power as a lone Queen was not respected since she was a woman, and Bothwell had proven himself loyal to Scotland for the past 10 years). There were also speculation that Bothwell had raped Mary, giving her no choice but to marry him. Darnley's death was a key event in the downward spiral that led to her loss of the Scottish crown.
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References
- Darnley: A Life of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Consort of Mary Queen of Scots by Caroline Bingham
- Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir
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