Mary Queen of Scots' Secretary: William Maitland—Politician, Reformer and Conspirator

“It’s as good as a Philippa Gregory, and tells you so much more about Mary Queen of Scots and the people with whom she surrounded herself.” —Books Monthly

William Maitland of Lethington was the most able politician and diplomat during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. It was he who masterminded the Scottish Reformation by breaking the ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, which presaged Scotland’s lasting union with England.

Although he gained English support to defeat French troops defending Mary’s Scottish throne, he backed her return to Scotland, as the widowed Queen of France. His attempts to gain recognition for her as heir to the English crown were thwarted by her determined adherence to Catholicism.

After her remarriage, he spearheaded the plotting to bring down her objectionable husband, Lord Darnley, leading to his murder, after concluding that English and Scottish interests were best served by creating a Protestant regency for their son, Prince James. With encouragement from Cecil in England and the Protestant Lords in Scotland, he concocted evidence to implicate her in her husband’s murder, resulting in her imprisonment and deposition from the Scottish throne.

This is the thrilling biography of a complicated man whose loyalty wavered between queen and country and whose behind-the-throne machinations may have caused her undoing—and his own . . .

“A modern, convincing—I must also use that popular buzzword ‘game-changing’—biography that combines page-turning narrative with convincing, sophisticated, scholarly argument.” —Steven Veerapen, Professor of History, Strathclyde University

© 2021 Pen & Sword History (Ebook): 9781526787804

Release date

Ebook: 3 March 2021