Mary Queen of Scots Private Rooms at Holyroodhouse

❤ Mary Queen of Scots Private Rooms at Holyroodhouse ❤

Mary Queen of Scots lived in the Palace of Holyroodhouse between 1561 and 1567.
Her private chambers are in the north-west tower, which was originally built for her father James V, nearly 500 years ago.
This is the oldest section of the Palace, reached by a narrow, steep and winding staircase.

Mary’s Bed chamber was decorated with items she brought back from France, as well as the furniture she had inherited from when her parents lived at the Palace.
The oak ceiling is one of the oldest in the Palace, and is decorated with her mother’s and father’s initials.

Mary had two rooms in the turrets of her Bedchamber.
Small rooms like this were known as closets, and these were Mary’s most private rooms.
Mary may have used the room in the south-west turret as a study or a dressing room.

The other closet was Mary’s Supper Room.
She spent time eating, relaxing and listening to music with her closest friends in this room.
Mary was in here on 9th March 1566 when she witnessed the murder of her secretary, David Rizzio.
Rizzio was dragged from the Supper Room and stabbed 56 times in a plot organised by Mary’s jealous husband, Lord Darnley, and a group of powerful Scottish lords.
His body was left next door in the Outer Chamber.

The Outer Chamber was a private room where Mary met important visitors to discuss the running of the country.
Mary, a Catholic queen in a newly Protestant country, had to have many difficult conversations in here, including several heated exchanges with John Knox.
This room could also be calm and tranquil.
The alcove with a stained glass window at the back of the room, is called an Oratory.
It was a quiet space where Mary came to say her daily prayers.

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