When I was in the Navy I had the opportunity to visit London several times during cruises to the North Atlantic. These excursions afforded me an enjoyable weekend or two touring and partaking of the local food and drink.
My friend Jerry Landry and I had tea and steak and kidney pie in the shadow of Big Ben then proceeded to St. James Park and Westminster Abbey where we stayed several hours basking in the history and viewing the exquisite marble and appointments as well as the tombs of royalty.
I had read accounts of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots during my years as a student and naturally lingered alongside the statue atop her tomb lost in my thoughts. It is a story of betrayal and cold calculated murder in the name of religion, loyalty, and lineage … and to this day I don’t know how I could face such proceedings with the fortitude, grace, and kind demeanor of this lady.
Mary I
aka Mary, Queen of Scots
aka Mary Stuart
December 8, 1542 – February 8, 1587
Queen of Scots from December 14, 1542 to July 24, 1567.
She was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V.
Six days old when her father died, she became the Queen of Scots and was crowned nine months later.
Though certainly not unprecedented by any means, she was murdered because she was Catholic and in the line of succession to the throne.
