Death of James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell ~ Third husband of Mary Queen of Scots
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, is a notorious figure in Scottish history.
He is most associated with being the third husband of Mary Queen of Scots.
Hepburn was charged with the murder of Mary’s second husband, Lord Darnley……a charge of which he was acquitted.
He was also accused of abducting Mary, r@ping her and forcing her hand in marriage.
On 24th April, while Mary was on her way to Edinburgh, Bothwell suddenly appeared with 800 men.
He assured her that danger awaited her in Edinburgh, and told her that he proposed to take her to safety to his castle at Dunbar.
She agreed to accompany him and arrived at Dunbar at midnight.
There, Mary was ‘taken prisoner’ by Bothwell and allegedly r@ped by him, to secure marriage to her and the crown.
Whether she was actually his willing accomplice, or his unwilling victim ~ remains a controversial issue.
Many reports say she was kidnapped and forced to marry him, while others said that she pretended to be kidnapped.
We do know however, that Mary and Bothwell had been very close.
On 15th May 1567, Mary and Bothwell married in the Great Hall at Holyroodhouse.
Mary gave her new husband a fur lined night-gown.
The marriage divided the country into two camps, and on 16th June, the Lords opposed to Mary and Bothwell signed a Bond denouncing them.
A showdown between the two opposing sides followed, from which Bothwell fled.
After one final embrace with Mary, she never saw him again.
Mary was placed in a cramped tower in Lochleven Castle, situated on an island in Loch Leven.
Mary was forced to abdicate and her young son was crowned King James VI of Scotland.
Whilst at Lochleven Mary miscarried Bothwell’s twins.
Bothwell fled to Denmark, where he was arrested and imprisoned in Malmö Castle.
Bothwell was reported to have been kept prisoner in the dark, and tied to a post half his height, unable to stand.
The post to which he was chained for the last ten years of his life can still be seen, with a circular groove in the floor around the post.
James Hepburn 4th Earl of Bothwell died ten years later, still imprisoned, on 14th April 1578.
He was buried at Faarevejle.
In 1858, the body was exhumed and declared to be that of Lord Bothwell.
It was in a dried condition and was thereafter referred to as “Bothwell’s mummy”.
His extended family tried to get his body sent back to Scotland, but their request was not granted.
Bothwell’s body was displayed in an open casket at Frederiksborg Museum in Copenhagen.
In 1977, Queen Margarethe of Denmark ordered that the third husband of Mary Queen of Scots should finally receive a proper burial, nearly 400 years after his death.
