16th century letter signed by Mary Queen of Scots sells for £15,000 at auction
The rare 16th-century letter from Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley to the Rose family has sold for thousands
A letter jointly signed by Mary Queen of Scots and her husband, Lord Darnley, urging a Highland family to maintain peace around Inverness has sold for £15,000 at auction in Edinburgh.
The document, addressed to the Rose family of Kilravock Castle, was part of a remarkable collection of five 16th-century letters, all dating back 500 years to a time when clan rivalries and power struggles dominated Scotland.
The remaining four letters fetched £10,000 and £11,300 respectively during the sale by Lyon and Turnbull auctioneers.
Situated between Inverness and Nairn in the Scottish Highlands, Kilravock Castle was the ancestral seat of Clan Rose from 1460 until its transfer to the Kilravock Christian Trust in 1984.
The Rose family, however, had been settled on the estate long before the castle's construction, with records dating their presence back to 1293.
Though the Lairds of Kilravock held only the title of Baron, the lowest rank in British nobility, their influence was far-reaching, and their political and royal connections significant.
The Roses were loyal supporters of Mary and played a key role during her visit to the Highlands in 1562. One of the letters formally appoints Hugh Rose of Kilravock as keeper of nearby Inverness Castle, while another urges the family to help maintain law and order in the region.
What makes the letters particularly compelling is their joint authorship, bearing the signatures Marie R and Henry R, which historians say offers a rare glimpse of harmony in what would become a famously troubled royal marriage.
Writer and historian Jennifer Morag Henderson, author of Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots, described the signed documents as a rare find.
'Darnley is almost never called 'King Henry', and indeed Mary ultimately refused to give Darnley the Crown Matrimonial, meaning he was not king in his own right, but only the queen's husband,' she told the BBC.
'This is one of the few documents I have seen that is signed in this way, from the very early, almost literally honeymoon period of Mary and Darnley's marriage.
'It's so interesting to see their signatures side-by-side like this, Mary's is first, so she's still the most important, but Darnley has signed his name in large, sprawling letters.'
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The castle itself was at the centre of dramatic events during Mary's time. During her 1562 visit to the Highlands, she was denied entry to Inverness Castle, then under the control of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, a powerful figure opposed to her rule.
Offended by the rejection, Mary moved to assert her authority and later placed the castle under the stewardship of the Roses. However, by the following month, the Gordons had regained control.
Mary's relationship with Darnley would soon collapse. In 1566, he led the group responsible for the murder of her confidant David Rizzio, in her presence at Holyrood Palace. Darnley himself was murdered under mysterious circumstances the following year.
Today, the letters offer more than just a window into royal correspondence, they reflect a fleeting moment of unity between Mary and Darnley, and a significant chapter in the long and influential history of the Rose family of Kilravock.
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