7 December 1545 Henry Stuart

7 December 1545 marks the birth of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

He was born at Temple Newsan, Leeds in the West Riding of 

Yorkshire in England. However his birth date was disputed. 

Family

Henry was the son of Matthew Stewart, 4th. Earl of Lennox 

and Lady Margaret Douglas. He was a member of the royal 

house of Stuart (the Darnley Branch).

Youth

In 1545, Henry's father Matthew Stuart (Stewart), the 4th. 

Earl of Lennox, was found guilty of treason in Scotland for

siding with the English in the War of the Rough Wooing. 

The Scottish estates of the family were forfeited and his father

went into exile in England for 22 years. He returned to Scotland

in 1564. The Countess of Lennox, Margaret Douglas had left

Scotland already in 1528.

Henry was educated in Latin, Gaelic, English and French. He

excelled in singing, lute playing and dancing. 

Troubles in the family

Matthew Stewart, the 4th. Earl of Lennox was third in line to

the Scottish throne and his wife Margaret Douglas, the Countess

of Lennox was a niece of King Henry VIII of England. She was

a daughter of Henry's sister: Margaret Tudor. She was thus a

granddaughter of King Henry VII of England, making her second

in line to the English throne after Mary, Queen of Scots. 

As Roman Catholics they posed a threat in Protestant England

and especially in 1558, when the 25-year-old Queen Elizabeth 

took the throne. 

In July 1559, Henry II of France died. Lennox's brother John,

the 5th. Sieur d'Aubigny, was elevated in the French court as

Kingsman 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 their 

accession and seek restoration for Lennox. Mary did not 

restore Lennox to his Scottish earldom, but she did give

1,000 crowns to Darnley and invited him to her coronation. 

Love and Marriage

On 3 February 1565, Darnley left London. On 12 February

he was in Edinburgh. On 17 February he presented himself

to Mary at Wemyss Castle in Fife. 

Darnley and his future wife were half cousins through two

different marriages of their grandmother, Margaret Tudor. 

Both Mary and Darnley were high in the line of the English

throne. Darnley also was a descendant of a daughter of

King James II of Scotland and he also was in line for the

throne of Scotland. 

On 15 May 1565, Darnley was made Lord of Ardmanoch and

Earl of Ross at Stirling Castle. On 22 July the same year,

Darnley was made Duke of Albany in Holyrood Abbey. 

On 29 July 1565, the marriage of Henry Stuart and Mary

Queen of Scots took place by Roman Catholic rites in Mary's

private chapel at Holyrood. 

However soon after Mary married Darnley she became aware

of his vain, arrogant and unreliable qualities, which threatened

the well-being of the state. 

Darnley also was unpopular with the other nobles and had a 

violent streak, aggravated by his drinking.  Darnley would have

been driven away from the court....

But Mary soon became pregnant. At that time Mary's private

secretary, David Rizzio was stabbed 56 times on 9 March 1566

by Darnley and his confederates. Mary no longer trusted her

husband and he was disgraced by the kingdom. 

A son

On 19 June 1566, Mary gave birth to a son. Who would 

become later King James I of England. His godparents were:

Charles IX of France;

Elizabeth I of England;

Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy. 

Darnley and Mary's marriage continued to struggle. 

Death

8 months after James' birth, on the night of 9-10 February 1567,

Darnley was murdered. His body and that of his valet were

discovered in the orchard of Kirk o' Field in Edinburgh. There 

were no visible marks of strangulation or violence on the body. 

Suspicion quickly fell on the Earl of Bothwell and his 

supporters and of course on Mary herself. 

Soon after Darnley's death, Mary and Bothwell left Edinburgh

together. They were both charged with Henry's murder. They 

were given separate trials in England. Bothwell was found not

guilty. Mary's trial took longer ending with no definitive

finding. Mary was kept in captivity until she was implicated

in the Babington plot against Elizabeth.

In 1567 Darnley was buried in the Royal Vault in the

Holyrood Abbey alongside the bodies of several royals:

King David II, King James II and many more. 

Source pictures: Wikipedia