The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Monday 25 October 2004

There's Still Something About Mary

As in England, where the number of historical establishments that claim, "Queen Victoria slept here," is legion, the same holds true in Scotland for Mary, Queen of Scots.

In her relatively brief 45 years of life, Mary seems to have spent at least one night in just about every castle of note in Scotland and the far north of England. Between everyday living at her royal residences and embarking on her many Scottish progressions, she went from what we know today as familiar Scottish landmarks like Edinburgh Castle to near forgotten ruins like Spynie Palace in the Moray region of eastern Scotland. And, through both her attempts to escape a multitude of threats and nearly half a life of imprisonment, she also stayed for various lengths of time in places as diverse as Borthwick Castle near Edinburgh and Manor Lodge in Sheffield, England.

But, if you think the Scots Queen was busy in life, wait until you hear all the places she's reportedly "visited" in the afterlife. First, let me say this…

As a traveler, I've made a point of visiting as many "haunted" places as possible, with consistently disappointing results. On the other hand, I continue to look, hoping to eventually find something of a spectral nature somewhere. With that in mind, I explore subjects like this with an open (if slightly cynical) frame of mind, and, with Halloween just around the corner, it seems to me an exceptionally appropriate topic for this week's column. So, whatever your own beliefs, read on and enjoy!

Whether or not you actually believe in ghosts, it's difficult to refute the logic that a "royal" ghost is far superior to an everyday ghost (especially when tourism is at stake). Similarly, I've found that - as with tabloids - the more sensational royal subjects make the most ubiquitous ghosts. Take, for instance, two of Henry VIII's ill-fated wives.
The ghost of Anne Boleyn, wife number two, has appeared all over England - from the Tower of London to Bickling Hall in Norfolk - while, on the other hand, Jane Seymour, wife number three, seems to exclusively haunt Hampton Court Palace.

As omnipresent as some royal ghosts seem to be, however, none of them can hold a candle to Mary, Queen of Scots. There's just something about Mary - even after all these years - that makes her such a popular spectral resident of British castles. So much so that it's possible to track most of her life story just through the claims of her ghostly presence.

Castles Fit for a Queen

Unfortunately, her ghost doesn't give us a completely clean start, as it's not Mary, but her mother, Mary of Guise, who haunts Mary's birthplace, Linlithgow Palace. Perhaps the ruined palace just isn't big enough for the two ghostly queens. In any case, the ghost of the Queen of Scots - or, at least of the "Pink Lady" - is reportedly present in her second home, Stirling Castle. According to the stories, the castle is haunted by a "Pink Lady" and a "Green Lady." It's speculated that the Pink Lady, who is most fluently described as a "beautiful woman in a pink silk gown," is either the ghost of the Queen of Scots or that of a woman doomed for all eternity to search for her husband, who was killed when Edward I captured the castle. As for the Green Lady… well, we'll get to her after we briefly review Mary's earthly presence at Stirling Castle.

Queen of Scotland since she was six days old, Mary was an easy and vulnerable target for the Kings of England and France, who had their eyes on the Scottish throne. When she was just six months old, an alliance between England and Scotland betrothed Mary to England's Prince Edward, the five-year-old son and heir of King Henry VIII. The French Mary of Guise didn't like the proposition one bit and, within two months of the alliance, she took the little Queen into hiding at Stirling Castle. A hurried coronation ceremony was held in the Castle's Old Chapel Royal on September 9th, 1543 and Mary and her mother lived safely in the castle until 1548, when Mary was sent to be raised in the French court.

She returned to the castle several times after her return from France in 1561, and it was to Stirling that she sent her son, James, to be raised in 1566. Mary's life appeared to come full circle when - just over 23 years after her coronation - she attended James' christening in the same chapel at Stirling Castle. Mary again visited her son at Stirling Castle on April 24th, 1567, but it would turn out to be the last time she saw both her son and her childhood home. Just a few months later, Mary was forced to abdicate and James was subsequently crowned king.

These are perhaps all good reasons why Mary's spirit might want to return to Stirling Castle in the afterlife, but her ghostly appearance would seem to be more closely tied to an incident in 1561 when the curtains of her bed were set on fire by a bedside candle. Had it not been for a quick-thinking attendant who rescued the sleeping Queen from her burning bed, Mary would never have had the chance to impact history the way she did. As for the brave attendant, well, her spirit is doomed to forever wander the halls of Stirling Castle known merely as the Green Lady. Now that's appreciation for you.

At this point in the story, it seems almost too obvious to say this, but Mary didn't have much luck in life. When her second husband, Lord Darnley, brutally murdered her secretary, David Rizzio, in the presence of her heavily pregnant royal self in March of 1566, Mary no doubt saw that she needed to rid herself of - and/or find an alternative to - her troublesome husband. After the birth of her son, she evidently filled at least one, if not both, of those needs with James, Earl of Bothwell. Mary and James, history tells us, not only went to work to formulate a plan to get rid of Darnley, but also went to work on each other.

In October 1566, Mary learned that Bothwell had been wounded in a minor altercation and was convalescing in one of his castles. At great risk to both her safety and reputation, Mary dropped everything to be at her lover's side. She and a few select attendants rode between 25 and 50 miles to Hermitage Castle, where they stayed for two hours before making the journey back. On the return trip, Mary caught a chill and the subsequent fever nearly killed her. It is perhaps this event that has prompted ghost watchers to claim that the "regal figure" in a white dress seen on the grounds of Hermitage Castle is the ghost of Mary. Perhaps, but Mary and her clothing seem to have made a bigger impact on another castle associated with  the Earl of Bothwell - Borthwick Castle, which is now a hotel.

Several years ago, when I was planning a trip to Edinburgh, I wanted desperately to stay at Borthwick Castle. Much to my disappointment, the castle was still closed for the winter season and I stayed elsewhere. Fortunately for Borthwick's contemporary tourist value, Mary had better luck with her accommodation needs. While her first visit to Borthwick passed fairly uneventfully in 1563, she made a more significant visit in 1567 when she went there as the new wife of the Earl of Bothwell.

Well, perhaps "went" is a bit of an understatement, since she actually fled there with Bothwell in June of that year to seek refuge from and raise forces against a group of very unhappy nobles. Part of the trouble was that, in February, Lord Darnley had been killed in a mysterious explosion and Mary and her not-very-popular new husband were believed to be at the heart of the incident. Much to the couple's chagrin, their refuge at Borthwick was soon surrounded and they were forced to escape separately. The story goes that Mary - who, even under normal conditions, appears to have enjoyed dressing up - disguised herself as a page boy to escape from the castle. But, despite their best efforts, both she and Bothwell were caught and imprisoned.

Perhaps it's because the newlyweds spent their last days together at Borthwick that the unhappy Mary supposedly haunts the castle, appearing (conveniently) from time-to-time in a stairwell near what is now appropriately called the Mary, Queen of Scots Room. Also, in keeping with Mary's lifetime predilections and escape strategies, she's also been spotted around the castle dressed as she was when she fled the castle - as a page boy.

Castles of "Polite" Imprisonment

While Mary's spirit lingered at Borthwick, the living Mary was imprisoned by those unhappy Scottish nobles at Loch Leven Castle in June of 1567. A month later, she had a double dose of bad luck when she had a miscarriage - twins, which were buried near the castle - and was forced to abdicate the Scottish throne. Personally, I would have been quite happy to relax in a castle ideally situated on an island in the middle of one of Scotland's beautiful lochs, but Mary didn't much like her situation and wasted no time in plotting her means of escape.

Her first attempt involved disguising herself as the castle's washer woman and attempting to escape from the island via boat. Unfortunately for Mary, the boatman thought it was suspicious that a mere washer woman could have such beautiful white hands, and Mary's escape was foiled. Her second attempt was successful thanks to the cooperation of her allies, including her jailer's own son, who was apparently smitten with the young and beautiful Queen. On May 2, 1568, she successfully crossed the loch and made her way to safety, although, according to various ghost sightings, Mary's spirit once again lingered behind.

After her earthly escape from Loch Leven Castle, Mary found refuge at the castle of one of her supporters, James Hamilton, the 2nd Earl of Arran. The hospitality Mary received at Craignethan Castle, near the Clyde Valley, must have been a welcome respite from her period of polite imprisonment, but the business of reclaiming her crown awaited her and her stay was accordingly short. Unfortunately for Mary, her hopes of achieving victory in Scotland were dashed on May 13th, 1568 at the Battle of Langside, which led to her escape to England and her eventual execution.

Unlike her other "hauntings," Mary's spirit seems to have returned to Craignethan Castle not as she was when she left, but as she was after her execution - that is to say, headless. Of course, since it's difficult to identify a headless ghost, it is only assumed that the "headless lady dressed in white" spotted in the castle's old tower is, in fact, the spirit of Mary, Queen of Scots. Why Mary's spirit would choose to appear headless at a place with positive connotations, while appearing completely intact at less desirable locations, I simply can't guess.

In any case, Mary (with her head still attached) duly threw herself on the mercy of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, and was promptly imprisoned, first at Carlisle Castle near the Scottish/English border, then at Bolton Castle in North Yorkshire a few months later. Life at Bolton Castle couldn't have been all bad for the Queen of Scots, especially considering that she had 51 personal servants at her disposal. While Mary had her every whim catered to by her servants at Bolton, her fate was being decided at York. When the Earl of Moray introduced the notorious Casket Letters to the commission, Mary's fate of indefinite imprisonment was virtually sealed. After one unsuccessful escape attempt and rumors of another, Mary was once again moved.

And, yes, of course, her ghost ostensibly lingers at Bolton Castle - specifically, in the courtyard - as well as in nearby Nappa Hall, where she had been allowed a short pleasure visit during her confinement at Bolton. The story goes that a spectral woman with a beautiful face and wearing a black velvet dress - and who, coincidentally, looked very much like the portraits of Mary - has been spotted in Nappa Hall.

Castles of the Shrewsbury's and of Death

On January 26th, 1569, in the middle of a snowstorm, Mary was moved further away from the Scottish border and into the care of the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. For most of the rest of her life, Mary would remain in the Earl's custody and would move back and forth between his various castles. Not surprisingly, at least one of these castles - known interchangeably as Manor Lodge, Manor Castle and Sheffield Manor - is reportedly haunted by Mary's ghost. Personally, as ghost stories go, I find this one to be the most plausible since Mary spent a good deal of her 19 years of imprisonment in the Turret House of Manor Lodge.

The first stories of a ghost thought to be Mary at Manor Lodge were recorded in the 1930s, when the caretakers reported that a beautiful woman dressed in black floated through the Turret House and disappeared through the walls. Similar encounters have since been recorded, along with others, and, in my opinion, if the ghost stories help generate interest in restoring the crumbling historical site in South Yorkshire, then all the better.

While the visit of Mary's spirit at Manor Lodge may be an eternal one, after 14 years with the Shrewsbury's, her welcome had worn thin and, in 1584, she was assigned a new custodian and moved to another location. She eventually ended up in Chartley Hall, where - in 1586 - she was infamously implicated in the Babington Plot to assassinate Elizabeth I. Now a true enemy of the state, Mary was moved to Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, where she was tried in October of 1586 and beheaded on February 8th, 1587. Mary's lifelong bad luck extended to her execution, which required three blows of the axe to complete. Legend tells us that after her head was finally severed from her body, Mary's lips continued to move in prayer.

Following the execution, her body was kept at Fotheringhay for several months before it was interred at Peterborough Cathedral in Cambridgeshire. The castle itself was left to fall into ruins and was eventually dismantled, with the salvaged portions used in nearby building projects. In particular, the Talbot Hotel in Oundle benefited greatly in the 1600s when it was rebuilt using stones, windows and the wooden staircase from Fotheringhay Castle. If you believe the stories, Mary's ghost - still in the black cloak she wore to her execution - haunts the Talbot Hotel, staring out the windows she gazed through during her imprisonment at Fotheringhay and walking the same stairs she walked down in that castle's great hall on her execution day. The location of the remnants of the last place she passed through in life is also the last of the many places she haunts after death, whether literally or figuratively.

Top that, Anne Boleyn.

Until next week, 

- Tori Van Orden Mart�nez