The Prayer Book of Mary, Queen of Scots

The incredible story of a book that takes your breath away…

Mary Stuart was born on 8 December 1542. When she was six days old, her father, King James V of Scotland, died, and she became Queen of Scots. Because Elizabeth I was considered illegitimate, Mary Stuart was also expected to become Queen of England.

When Mary Stuart was five, her mother signed a marriage treaty under which Mary would eventually marry the future king of France. The five-year-old Mary moved to France to live with her future husband.

Everyone understood that Mary Stuart was Queen of Scots, the future Queen of France and possibly the future Queen of England. In France, she was therefore rigorously prepared for the role: teachers and tutors, reading and writing, leadership, government, etiquette, hunting, music, painting, the rules of court intrigue—everything expected of her.

When Mary turned 11, she was given a book: a prayer book. It became her favourite book and constant companion. She filled its margins with notes, turning it into her diary. In those years, she wrote that life was wonderful, that a great future awaited her, that she would be the very best queen, and so on.

In 1559, Mary became Queen of France, and in 1561 she returned to rule Scotland.

In 1568, a rebellion broke out, and Mary fled to England, where she appealed to the Queen of England for help. Elizabeth, no fool, had her rival imprisoned.

During those years, the tone of her notes in the prayer book’s margins turned negative: life is unfair, I was supposed to rule countries, if only it would all end soon, and so on.

The Queen of England intercepted Mary Stuart’s letters about a plot to depose her and sentenced Mary to death for it. On 5 February 1587, Mary Stuart was beheaded. At the moment of her execution, the prayer book she had kept with her throughout her life fell from the folds of her dress.

…

Years passed, and in 1805 the prayer book entered the Imperial Public Library—now the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg—where it remains to this day.

I have had the opportunity to leaf through this remarkable book twice.

Knowing that various kings and queens had held this book, that its margins recorded Mary Stuart’s transformation from “life is wonderful” to “if only it would all end soon”, that it had been with Mary on the scaffold at her execution, and so much more, I felt an incredible rush of emotion as I turned the pages of this historic artefact.

I cannot find the words to describe how I felt in those moments…

P.S. I believe the adventures of this prayer book deserve a television series at the very least. Someone could even build a museum around it, bring in crowds of visitors and tell them this astonishing story.

P.P.S. The story of this book is so incredible that it sounds fake, but the fact is that it really happened—you can Google it.