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Royal Road to Fotheringhay
Royal Road to Fotheringhay: A Novel | Jean Plaidy
2 posts | 6 read | 6 to read
The haunting story of the beautiful—and tragic—Mary, Queen of Scots, as only legendary novelist Jean Plaidy could write it Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland at the tender age of six days old. Her French-born mother, the Queen Regent, knew immediately that the infant queen would be a vulnerable pawn in the power struggle between Scotland’s clans and nobles. So Mary was sent away from the land of her birth and raised in the sophisticated and glittering court of France. Unusually tall and slim, a writer of music and poetry, Mary was celebrated throughout Europe for her beauty and intellect. Married in her teens to the Dauphin François, she would become not only Queen of Scotland but Queen of France as well. But Mary’s happiness was short-lived. Her husband, always sickly, died after only two years on the throne, and there was no place for Mary in the court of the new king. At the age of twenty, she returned to Scotland, a place she barely knew. Once home, the Queen of Scots discovered she was a stranger in her own country. She spoke only French and was a devout Catholic in a land of stern Presbyterians. Her nation was controlled by a quarrelsome group of lords, including her illegitimate half brother, the Earl of Moray, and by John Knox, a fire-and-brimstone Calvinist preacher, who denounced the young queen as a Papist and a whore. Mary eventually remarried, hoping to find a loving ally in the Scottish Lord Darnley. But Darnley proved violent and untrustworthy. When he died mysteriously, suspicion fell on Mary. In haste, she married Lord Bothwell, the prime suspect in her husband’s murder, a move that outraged all of Scotland. When her nobles rose against her, the disgraced Queen of Scots fled to England, hoping to be taken in by her cousin Elizabeth I. But Mary’s flight from Scotland led not to safety, but to Fotheringhay Castle... “Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama.” —New York Times From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Karons1
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mollie & I on the site of the disappeared Fotheringhay castle where Mary queen of Scot‘s was beheaded. memorial by the river nene at the base of the mount & the beautiful church with its unusual architecture was built by her son James1 her remains are no longer there & the castle was destroyed by him. The masonry & staircase which she walked down to her death is in the talbot hotel in oundle where we married,I walked down it in my wedding dress

TrishB Richard 111 was born there too. 13mo
jlhammar Lovely photo! 13mo
Bklover Wow! Beautiful photo! 13mo
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LeahBergen Gorgeous photo! 13mo
Karons1 @TrishB I didn‘t know that until I saw the plaque . Have you watched the film the lost king about the lady who received an mbe for locating and preserving with bigots to unearth him in the carpark , it‘s excellent 👌 worth a watch . I never did think he called the princess , Tudor propaganda! X. 13mo
TrishB Yes I‘ve watched. I contributed to Phillipa‘s research funds before it was all picked up by Leicester Uni! A fantastic achievement for her. I‘m a big R3 fanatic. (edited) 13mo
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Autumn
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#FunFridayPhoto My first adult book. I probably read every single Jean Plaidy book as a kid (and then again as an adult).
I read them when they were .75 trade paperbacks but they have been reissued with beautiful covers & a larger format.