The Face of Mary, Queen of Scots: History & Facial Re-Creations Revealed | Royalty Now
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Published 2023-03-10
Narration & Art: Becca Segovia
Writing, Editing & Music Direction: Andre Segovia
Timestamps:
0:00 Early Life
3:02 Time in France
9:18 English Succession Crisis
11:02 Lord Darnley
15:13 Second Marriage & Abdication
19:41 Imprisonment in England
21:40 The Babington Plot
22:52 Trial & Execution
24:15 Death Mask Brought to Life
Hello everyone and welcome back to Royalty Now, where we re-create figures from the past, and talk about their history.
Mary, Queen of Scots is one of the most famous women in Scottish history. Today we’ll guide you through her fascinating life, and then at the end we’ll bring you face to face with Mary by revealing our reconstructions of her death mask.
Mary Stuart was born on December 8th, 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, about 15 miles outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. She was the child of James V, the current King of Scotland. At the time of her birth, Mary was one of the most noble women in Europe. On the day Mary was born, her father was away - battling English forces only a few days before at Solway Moss, where he had recently been injured. He would never meet his new daughter. 6 days after her birth, King James V of Scotland died…and with no other heirs, Mary was now destined to become the Queen of the Scots.
She moved to France in 1548, where she married the young Dauphin Francis. She was immediately adored at the French court, and had an optimistic future ahead of her. But suddenly on December 5th 1560, King Francis II died. In August of 1561, Mary left the sunny countryside of France, and returned to a melancholy Scotland.
Her time back in Scotland began the war between two cousins: Mary, and her English cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Their power struggle eventually led to Mary being imprisoned for 19 years. She ultimately plotted against Elizabeth from inside her prison cell, and was found out. She was executed on the orders of Elizabeth I in 1587.
It was said that soon after her execution and the time her casket would have been sealed at burial, that four death masks were cast from Mary’s face.
One is called the Lennoxlove Mask, kept safe by the Duke of Hamilton at his estate for over 250 years, along with personal items of Mary’s. This mask shows the Queen looking young and serene, with hardly any trace of her harsh imprisonment showing on her face, eyebrows and eyelashes later attached.
It’s interesting just how young she looks, especially given that she would have been in her mid-forties and lived a harsh life for much of it. But, as we know she had always been described as an exceptionally beautiful woman. We don’t have any contemporary portraits past the time of her imprisonment, when she would have just been in her mid twenties, so it’s hard to tell how she aged. The last reliable portrait was made after her death, so while it wasn’t taken from life, it was supervised by one of her ladies who would have known how she looked.
Another mask, called the Jedburgh mask was also made. At some point in its history, makeup was added. And the other two masks that were reported have since been lost to history.
Now, there is some doubt around the authenticity of the masks, since records for each are spotty. But when we compare the masks to each other, and then to her portraits, the proportions of her face match up very well. Clearly her portraits show some common stylizations from the 16th century, noticeably the tiny lips. I think the death masks portray a truly lifelike Queen, more in line with the descriptions of her charisma and beauty.
I’ve used the Lennoxlove version for my recreation, because we have a beautiful side-view of the mask as well.
When looking at the death mask, do you think it’s Mary? We also have a modern version of Mary created in an older video, linked here and in the description. We’ll see you all for the next video.
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All Comments (21)
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When everything is considered, Mary actually lived a very sad life. I cannot help but feel very sorry for her. Excellent job, Royalty Now, for this incredible mini doc and recreation ❤
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I always feel awful that they botched her unfair execution so badly. It took 3 blows of the axe, they purposely used a dull one to make her suffer. She just wanted to go home and live in peace.
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This made me cry. She was my 13th Great Grandmother and I’ve always wondered what she truly looked like. Your gift is a gift to so many. ❤
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"she was finally free" - that formed tears in my eyes.
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“…and Henry, of course, had a tantrum.” This made me laugh but it reminds me of the time I wrote the tantrum and associated it with a historical figure.
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She's not just one of the most famous figures in Scottish history, but also in English history!
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Your recreation of her is beautiful. Mary was stunning. I've known of her story for a long time, and always thought so many things in her life were unfair and cruel. She lived a sad life surrounded by gullible people only willing to believe what they want to be true instead of what was true. I have pity for what she endured.
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The older I get the more I appreciate history. I can not even explain how fascinating I find this to be! It's like you've brought a person back from the grave that has been gone for hundreds of years to live again. Absolutely wonderful work! I hope you'll continue to create these types of videos of people throughout history.
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That was amazing exactly how she would be imaged to look. As a Scot who was told about her all my life, I really appreciated this video and how realistic she looks at the end. Exactly as I imagined
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I love that you called Henry VIII's Rough Wooing a tantrum. That's EXACTLY what it was! 🤣
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Simply extraordinary; you take us back over five hundred years to look into the eyes of a young queen. A sad end to so many of this era.
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That beautiful smile at the end was perfect. I truly hope she is finally at peace, considering the terrible life of pain and suffering she endured. Then, that botched execution! Thank you for your dedication to Queen Mary.
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I always felt so sorry for Mary. She sounds like a kind person. It's so piteous that when Elizabeth had her in prison, that she sent needlework to Elizabeth. I nearly cried when I read that. She lost a few battles but she won the war; her Stuart descendants sit on the throne.
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I am a homeschool mother of 8. We discovered your channel a month or two ago and it has become one of our favorites! Your videos have quickly become a standard in our homeschool. All of my children of all ages love them, as do my husband and I. My son requested that I recommend Lafayette- one of his favorites. We love your work! Thank you!
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Saoirse Ronan who was cast as Mary in the 2018 film looks very much like the portrait included at the beginning of this vlog. Almost uncanny!
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An excellent biography was written by Lady Antonia Fraser. By the time you finish reading it you will know every detail of her life and be quite emotional at her execution.
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It’s crazy to hear both sides of a story. Thank you so much. Poor Mary, Queen of Scots. I almost teared up for her. I hope she did find peace
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My word, one minute Mary had everything, then the next all was lost. This just illustrates how precarious life was for a would-be Queen in those unsettled times. Far better I would think to be just an ordinary working person with a hard life, but so much more security and fairness of what could be achieved. Another great job is done, thank you.
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She looks like Elizabeth woodville "the dragon set eyes" the long nose and the small Tudor lips, this was an amazing reconstruction. Ive spent decades learning & researching these people, when her face came up it felt like i was seeing an old friend. The proportion & resemblance are just so believable and i dare say accurate well accurate as 1 can be with 443 years between them.😂 Thank you your work is truly amazing ❤
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If she was imprisoned for 17 years, saw little sunlight, and was still tended to and taken care of by her ladies… I wouldn’t doubt she might have looked pretty youthful for her age. It’s also possible that whoever made the mask simply smoothed out some of her aged wrinkles in an effort to capture her likeness as she was known before all that.
