Hi my name is Kevin hicks and welcome to my history channel and today we're commemorating
the execution the death on February 8 1587 of Mary Queen of Scots the cousin to Elizabeth the first,
Queen of England. As executions go you know they should be quite straightforward but this one
wow really sticks out. Now she was a controversial figure yeah was she complicit in the murder of
her husband Lord Darnley whoa what a story, but apparently this lady was quite a beauty
and I see in lots of the films about Mary Queen of Scots. She has a a broad Scots accent but I
doubt it because she was raised in France and so I understand would have had a French accent, anyway
she's supposed to have had this red gold hair yeah, and be
quite a lady who could twist men round her little finger. As if that could ever happen
yeah? Well she's been found guilty treason and reluctantly Queen Elizabeth the first has signed
her death warrant and is going to have her own cousin executed. And there at Fotheringay Castle
she will be executed. The scaffold or the stage is bedecked in black cloth there is the executioner
with his axe and the block is all set she makes the most dramatic entrance she's dressed in black,
she has her rosary, her ladies in waiting and then they undo the black outer garment and it
drops to the ground. She's dressed in crimson satin I understand. Wow what an entrance. Here
she is as this dour religious woman and then the blood of christ in the colour of her dress
what a statement, and people you know spellbound watching this but then she fumbles at her garment
there because it's got to be released she must be executed, you know in her plain undergarments
I suppose. The executioner apparently steps forward and touches her and she shoes him away
he begs forgiveness for this act. Her ladies in waiting help her and the crimson dress falls to
the ground she steps out of it she's wearing a full length white shift. She then kneels, says
her prayers and when she is ready she throws out her arms the axe comes down, but misses the neck.
She was heard to gasp, then another slice with the axe. Thump, but it fails, it fails to sever
the head. So the executioner takes out his knife lifts up the head and literally saws off the head.
He then holds it up. God save Queen Elizabeth. But he didn't know that Mary was wearing a wig. It was
a secret. Can you imagine that you're standing there there's the head dripping with blood.
“God save..” head falls, rolls down the steps. Let's make this a drama
yeah? You're there with the red wig you look down. The Queen's head has white hair.
It was a secret she'd turn white some years before prematurely. So sad, oh my gosh. Now this
panicking headsman puts the head onto the crimson cushion, the velvet cushion there so people can
come and see he replaces the wig. Did he get it on right? I have no idea but when he moves the body,
little did he know under her dress was her pet dog! It starts to howl this whole
scene it's a farce, but at the end of the day it was butchery. What a terrible end
and there's a twist in the tail. Her son becomes King of England James the first of England, sixth
of Scotland. He has his mother's body removed from where it was buried and re-buried in Westminster
Abbey just adjacent Elizabeth the first. There they are cousins resting in peace. Now I hope
you've enjoyed my little film here, if you have thumbs up let's have some two-way traffic, any
comments I like to try and answer them if I can yeah? If you're a subscriber, thanks a million,
if you're not then subscribe and ding that bell. Thank you very much for your time and goodbye.