Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle
Mary Queen of Scots third, final and disastrous marriage to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, on 15th May 1567, brought about her inevitable ruin.
Protestant Scots Lords rose in rebellion against her, and Mary was forced to surrender on 15th June 1567.
Crowds denounced Mary as an adulteress and murderess, before she was imprisoned in Lochleven Castle.
Lochleven Castle was an imposing fortress, situated on an island in the middle of Loch Leven.
During Mary’s time at Lochleven, the floor above the great hall served as her prison.
A window was converted into a tiny oratory, for her private use, where she could worship.
Mary’s imprisonment in the tower house at Lochleven was one of the most traumatic periods of Mary’s life.
Mary was pregnant by Bothwell when she arrived at Lochleven, but miscarried twins two months later.
Still on her sickbed, she was then forced to abdicate from the throne.
To add further to her humiliation, the laird of the castle fired guns and lit bonfires on 29th July 1567.
These marked her infant son James VI’s ascension to the Scottish throne.
Mary’s first attempt to escape Lochleven, whilst disguised as a washerwoman, was thwarted when a boatman spotted her white hands beneath rags.
However, as escapes go, her second attempt was rather more successful…
Mary had made friends with some of her captors and was helped to escape from her prison by Willie and George Douglas, the sons of Mary’s keeper, Sir William Douglas.
Mary’s second attempt to escape from Lochleven, was on 2nd May 1568.
Mary had been a prisoner at Lochleven for eleven months, and decided now was the time for her daring escape.
The plan involved drugging half the island with hearty doses of wine, whilst all the boats were pegged to the shore, but one.
Once more in disguise, Mary walked out of the gates of the castle in full view, in the midst of the May Day festivities.
Willie Douglas, danced around the table in the great hall, and flung his handkerchief over the keys to the castle gates, as Sir William Douglas dozed drunkenly beside them.
Willie Douglas then gave the keys to Mary, and she escaped from the castle, and across the loch.
Mary, having regained her freedom as a result of this highly daring escapade, was soon reunited with several of her noble lords, who had held fast to her cause.
Mary was spirited away to the safety of the castle of Niddry.
Mary enjoyed a little under a fortnight of her hard-won freedom, before being beaten by her half-brother’s forces in battle at the village of Langside, just outside of Glasgow.
Watching from a nearby hill as her men were cut down in an ambush, Mary lost her legendary spirit and broke into a cross-country flight.
Mary finally ended up in Dundrennan Abbey, near the Solway Firth.
From there, despite the protestations of the lord and nobles who had ran with her, Mary made the decision to ferry a boat, and cross into England.
Here, she decided to throw herself on her cousin Queen Elizabeth’s mercy…….
Mary apparently had a premonition of the awful fate that awaited her in England, and demanded that the boat be turned so that they could make for France instead.
However, powerful winds had taken hold of the boat, and Mary landed in England.
Unable to escape her date with destiny, Mary would never see Scotland again…..
