The letter itself sits at the centre of the exhibition in a glass vitrine: Mary’s hand is neat, slopes to the right, and she is writing in French.

Mary, Queen of Scots does not recount what she ate for dinner on 7 February 1587, but she does record what happened as soon as she had finished: she was told she was to die the following day. “I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning,” she wrote to her brother-in- law, King Henri III of France. There is no time to tell Henri all that has happened – she is writing the letter at 2 a.m., with only six hours left to live – but she begs him to pay her servants the wages they are owed. And she makes clear that, having been convicted of treason four months earlier, she believes she is about to be martyred for her faith.

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login