Rare Mary Queen of Scots letters to be auctioned

BBC News

18-06-2025

Letters signed by Mary, Queen of Scots and her husband Lord Darnley urging a Highland family to keep the peace in and around Inverness are to be auctioned later.They were written almost 500 years ago when rival families and clans were vying for control of land across Scotland.The Roses of Kilravock Castle, about 10 miles (16km) east of Inverness, were loyal supporters of Mary.One of the letters asks the Roses to help maintain law and order, while another gives them control of Inverness Castle.
The letters jointly signed by Mary's husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, have been described as providing a rare example of harmony in their troubled marriage.The couple later fell out and Henry became infamous for leading a group that murdered Mary's loyal servant David Rizzio in front of her in 1566. Henry was murdered himself the following year.
The letters are part of a collection of papers from Kilravock Castle, near Croy, that are being sold by auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull.There are five in total being sold, and they have been valued at between £10,000 to £15,000.
Mary stayed with the Roses at Kilravock while on a visit to the Highlands in 1562.Nearby Inverness Castle, a fortress on the site of today's 18th Century building, was strategically important but under control of Gordon, the 4th Earl of Huntly, who was not so sympathetic towards the queen.Mary was refused entry to Inverness Castle and, angered by the snub, she made attempts to wrest it from the Gordons' hold on it.In September 1565 she and Henry appointed Hugh Rose of Kilravock as the castle's keeper.But it was back in the Gordons' hands within a month.Inverness writer Jennifer Morag Henderson describes these events in her book Daughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots.She said the letters signed by Mary and her husband, using their signatures Marie R and Henry R, were rare."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 said."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."