Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1546 – 10 February 1567) was King of Scotland as the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, from 29 July 1565 until his murder. Darnley had one child with Mary, James VI of Scotland and I of England. Less than a year after the birth of his son, Darnley was murdered at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as simply Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.
Origins He was the second, but eldest surviving, son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and his wife Lady Margaret Douglas, which supported his claim to the English succession. Darnley's maternal grandparents were Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Queen Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland.
Early life
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was born at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, in 1546. Henry was initially believed to be born on 5 December 1545, but more recent research suggests he was born in 1546, as his mother had given birth in late February 1545. In a letter from March 1566, his age was given as nineteen.
In 1545, his father, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, was found guilty of treason in Scotland for siding with the English in the War of the Rough Wooing, in opposing Mary of Guise and Regent Arran. The family's Scottish estates were forfeitedElaine Finnie Greig, 'Stewart, Henry, duke of Albany [Lord Darnley] (1545/6–1567)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 and his father went into exile in England for 22 years, returning to Scotland in 1564. The Countess of Lennox Margaret Douglas, his mother, had left Scotland in 1528.Daniel, William S., History of The Abbey and Palace of Holyrood (Edinburgh: Duncan Anderson, 1852), p. 62.
The Scottish scholar John Elder was among his tutors. Elder advocated Anglo-Scottish union through the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Edward, Prince of Wales. His advice to Henry VIII in 1543, was termed the Advice of a Redshank.Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol. 18 part 2 (London, 1902), no. 539: Bannatyne Miscellany, Edinburgh vol. 1, (1827), 1–6 Another schoolmaster to the young heir was Arthur Lallart, who would later be interrogated in London for having gone to Scotland in 1562.Morgan Ring, So High A Blood (Bloomsbury, 2017), pp. 160–161: Joseph Stevenson, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 5 (London, 1867), p. 13 no. 12: Calendar State Papers Domestic 1547–1580 (London, 1856), pp. 201, 203.
Henry was considered strong, athletic, skilled in horsemanship and weaponry, and passionate about hunting and hawking. His youthful character is captured somewhat in a letter of March 1554 to Mary I of England from Temple Newsam, where he writes about making a map, the Utopia Nova, and his wish that "every haire in my heade for to be a wourthy souldiour".Henry Ellis, Original Letters illustrative of British History, 2nd series vol. 2 (London, 1827) pp. 249–251. In Scotland, he was delighted with an English Water Spaniel, a gift from the courtier James Melville of Halhill.Joseph Stevenson, Selections from unpublished manuscripts illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland (Glasgow, 1837), p. 165
Succession crisis There was a political dilemma in England arising from the dynastic ambition of the Lennoxes. Darnley's father Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, was third in line to the Scottish throne, and his wife Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, was a niece of Henry VIII, making her a potential successor to the English throne if Elizabeth should die.Macauley, (2004), p. 267 As Roman Catholics, they posed a threat to English Protestants. Although Elizabeth was bright, witty, and well-educated for her position, as a woman she had to prove herself. As she was a Protestant, many Roman Catholics would have liked to see the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, take the throne. They regarded Elizabeth as illegitimate, her parents' marriage not having been recognised by the Catholic Church. As a male descended from Henry VII, Darnley was also a contender for the English throne—these interrelationships made for complex intrigues, spying, strategising, and manoeuvering for power at the various courts.
When Henry II of France died in July 1559, Lennox's brother John, 5th Sieur d'Aubigny, was elevated in the French court as a relative of the new French queen, Mary, already Queen of Scots. Aubigny arranged for Darnley to be dispatched to the French court to congratulate Mary and Francis II of France on Francis's accession and seek restoration for Lennox. Mary did not restore Lennox to his Scottish earldom. Still, she did give 1,000 crowns to Darnley and invited him to her coronation.Macauley, (2004), p. 268 Lennox planned to appeal directly to the Queen of Scots via her ambassador, over the heads of Elizabeth and the Guise. The mission of Lennox's agent, one Nesbit, appears to have been a desperate one; not only was Lennox willing to hand over Darnley and his brother Charles as hostages for his restoration, but he supplied pedigrees of Darnley, indicating his right to the inheritance of England and Scotland and the houses of Hamilton and Douglas.Macauley, (2004), pp. 268–269 Aubigny was also later accused of supporting Mary's title to the throne of England and hinting that even his nephew had a stronger claim than Elizabeth.
Lennox set Nesbit to watch Mary, Darnley, and Darnley's tutor, John Elder. In 1559 Nicholas Throckmorton, the English ambassador in Paris, warned Elizabeth that Elder was "as dangerous for the matters of England as any he knew."Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, vol. 1 Lord Paget in March 1560, wrote of the 'well founded' fear that Catholics would raise Darnley to the throne on Elizabeth's death.The Lennox Crisis, 1558–1563; Sarah Macauley, Christ's College, Cambridge. Northern History, 41:2 (Sept. 2004), p. 276.
Francis Yaxley was a Catholic spy discovered in 1562 whose activities led to the arrest of the Lennox family. He had been a Clerk of the Signet and from 1549 was employed by William Cecil travelling in France.HMC Manuscripts of the Marquis of Salisbury, vol. 1 (London, 1883), pp. 74, 118, 121, 147; vol. 2 (1888), p. 509: CSP Domestic, Elizabeth: 1547–1580 (London, 1856), p. 90. Yaxley was employed by the Countess of Lennox. He placed Mabel Fortescue and other ladies as servants in the Lennox household at Settrington in November 1560.CSP Domestic, Elizabeth: 1547–1580 (London, 1856), pp. 164, 171, 177. His interrogation at the Tower of London in February 1562 revealed that he had obtained intelligence about the English Court from the Spanish ambassador, and the ambassador had entrusted him and Hugh Allen with messages and tokens for the Lennoxes and Darnley. Yaxley admitted that his missions were intended to arrange the marriage of the Queen of Scots with Darnley, that Darnley's religion guaranteed him greater success in his suit than the Earl of Arran, and that the countess had many friends in the north.Macauley, (2004), p. 284: CSP Domestic 1547–1580 (London, 1856), p. 195. Although the Lennox threat never died out, Elizabeth did not convict the family of treason in 1562 after their arrest, nor did she encourage efforts to annul the countess's claim to her throne. Perhaps Elizabeth feared that these investigations could also be directed at herself, or her inaction was intended to ensure the monarchy's survival by not reducing the number of potential heirs. The Lennox family was released in February 1563. Within a few months, Darnley and his mother were conspicuous by their presence at Court and the favour they received there, although Elizabeth would not accommodate the earl at Court.Macauley, (2004), p. 287
Sarah Macauley notes three outcomes of the court's decision in the Lennox trial:"Their elevation at Court was, as it turned out in 1563, a useful complication in the succession issue. First, it presented a public statement that the preferences of Parliament (the claim of Catherine Grey in the succession crisis) could not dictate her own policy. Secondly, favouring the Lennoxes could serve as some kind of appeasement of the English Roman Catholics, who, like the Spanish ambassador, might foresee Elizabeth naming Darnley as her successor ... Such speculation would also distract them from favouring the more alarming claim of the Queen of Scots ... Thirdly, and most significantly, the elevation of the Lennoxes presented an obstacle between the Queen of Scots and the English throne. Thus was Darnley's uniquely 'British' inheritance put to use at last ... The subsequent release of Darnley into Scotland and the restoration of his father at the Scottish Court were part of this policy: the political disaster of the Darnley marriage as yet unforeseen."Macauley, Sarah. 'The Lennox Crisis, 1558–1563.', in Northern History 41.2 (2004), pp. 267–287 In September 1564, the Scottish Parliament restored Matthew Stewart's rights and titles as Earl of Lennox, and listened to a lengthy speech from the Queen's secretary William Maitland, who offered;"[I]t may be affirmid Scotland in na manis age that presentlie levis wes in gritter tranquillitie."Cameron, Annie I., ed., Warrender Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1931), p. 43, Maitland's oration in parliament.
(It may be affirmed Scotland in no man's age that presently lives was in greater tranquility.)
Marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots
On 3 February 1565, Darnley left London; by 12 February, he was in Edinburgh. On 17 February, he presented himself to Mary at Wemyss Castle in Fife.Charles Wemyss, Noble House of Scotland (Prestel Verlag, 2014), p. 80: Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 125–126. Mary and Darnley had known each other since 1560, when his parents sent him to France to present themselves to Mary and offer their respects and condolences on the death of her first husband, Francis II. James Melville of Halhill reported that "Her Majesty took well with him, and said that he was the lustiest and best proportioned long man that she had seen." Mary immediately fell in love with the “long lad” as she initially called Darnley. —Elizabeth I mentioned in one of her writings that he was over six feet tall or about 1.80 m—. After a brief visit to his father at Dunkeld, Darnley returned with Mary and the court to Holyrood on 24 February. The next day, he heard John Knox preach, and he danced a galliard with Mary at night.Joseph Bain, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 128. He was constantly in Mary's company from then on.Elaine Finnie Greig, 'Stewart, Henry, duke of Albany [Lord Darnley] (1545/6–1567)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 4 March 2012
Darnley was his wife's half-first cousin through two different marriages of their grandmother, Margaret Tudor, putting Mary and Darnley high in the line of succession for the English throne. Darnley was also a descendant of a daughter of James II of Scotland, and so also in line for the throne of Scotland.