Stirling Castle - Court Life

Regent Arran

James Hamilton, the 2nd Earl of Arran, was a political animal. In treacherous times, he was particularly adept at double-dealing for personal gain. Arran became Regent of Scotland on the death of his kinsman, James V, in 1542. He was also next in line to throne to the six-day-old Mary Queen of Scots.

But he was soon locked in a power struggle with the infant queen’s formidable mother, Mary of Guise. His visits to Mary’s base at Stirling Castle – where the queen was kept safe – were often tense affairs.Arran started off as a pro-English Protestant who wanted Mary to marry the son of the English king Henry VIII.

He then switched to the pro-French camp, converted to Catholicism and agreed that Mary should instead wed the son of the French king.