I’ve got a confession to make. I’m a 45-year-old happily married man but I’ve developed a crush. Nothing serious you understand, but colleagues here at Historic Scotland have started commenting.

She was a young single mum who was witty, clever and beautiful. And there’s the rub – you’ll notice I’ve slipped into the past tense. She died 450 years ago this month after a life that linked her forever with Stirling Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Edinburgh Castle. 

But Mary of Guise and was quite a woman. Imagine this, you’re the daughter of one of the greatest families in Renaissance France and have just been widowed, one son has died and the other is sickly. Soon afterwards, in 1538, you reluctantly marry James V of poor, cold, wet Scotland. You have two more sons, but they die, so does your 30-year-old husband – leaving you in a strife-torn foreign land with a week-old baby girl. What do you do, head home or stick around to fight for the rights of the infant (Mary, Queen of Scots) taking on all the noblemen trying to jostle you out of the way?

Mary of Guise chose the tough option. She used her intelligence, charm and political skill (plus French money and troops) to outwit her rivals and become ruler of Scotland. Despite English invasions, political feuds and the gathering storms of the Protestant Reformation, Mary stood firm for her daughter, the Auld Alliance with France, and the Catholic Church.

In 1560, in her mid-40s and dying from dropsy, she used her ebbing strength to try to rally support for her forces that were pinned down by Scots Protestants and the English in the fortified port of Leith. Within days of her death the French gave up and the Auld Alliance, dating from the 1290s, was over. The Reformation triumphed.

Mary was the last bastion of so much and it all turned to dust. Then again, in 1561 her daughter returned to Scotland and began her famous reign. And Mary of Guise’ grandson, James VI and I, united the crowns of Scotland and England.

Oh, and if you’d like to know more I have helped create our new Mary of Guise Family Trail  Once you know her a little better I’m sure you’ll agree with me that there really was something about Mary.

Matthew Shelley, Historic Scotland Marketing Department.