Previously married to the Duc de Longueville, she had left her son in the care of her mother, and made the long and dangerous trip to Scotland to marry James in 1537.
Marie was a French noblewoman from the powerful House of Lorraine. James, like his ancestors, had pursued the traditional Auld Alliance with France, in the hope of fending off his southern neighbour and had chosen a wife to strengthen the bond. However, if James really made such a comment, he had reckoned without the fortitude, wisdom and sheer political skill of his wife, Marie of Guise. He could be quite sure that Mary's great-uncle, Henry VIII of England would not hesitate to over-run the country, once he himself was dead. It was said he died of a broken heart, but the most likely cause was dysentery or another of the water-borne diseases that preyed on armies.Īllegedly, on hearing that his wife had borne a daughter, he let out a sigh and said " It cam wi' a lass, and it'll gang wi' a lass", alluding to the Stewarts' inheritance of the Crown of Scotland through a woman. James V, heavily defeated at the Battle of Solway Moss, died when Mary was only eight days old. Her parents were only thirty, so might have been expected to have more children. Mary was her parents' third child, but sadly, her two elder brothers had died within a day of each other in 1541.
Her mother had withdrawn there as her father, King James V marched towards yet another war with England. Mary was born in Linlithgow Palace, some forty miles west of Edinburgh.
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