Lot 8: JOHN HORSBURGH

JOHN HORSBURGH 1835-1924 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, WITH HOLYROOD PALACE BEYOND signed, dated and inscribed l.l.: Horsburgh/ Edinb 1887 oil on canvas 127 by 97 cm.; 50 by 38 ¼ in.

Mary I, popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots, (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587) was Queen from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567. She was also the Queen Consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560. After a long period of protective custody in England, she was tried and executed for treason following her involvement in three plots to assassinate Elizabeth I of England and place herself on the throne. During the 14th century reign of Robert II of Scotland, it had been confirmed that the Scottish Crown would only be inherited by males in the line of Robert's children, all sons, who were listed in that parliamentary Act. Females and female lines could inherit only after extinction of male lines. Mary ascended to the throne because, with the demise of her father, James V, Robert II had no remaining direct male descendants of unquestionably legitimate origins. John Stewart, Duke of Albany, a direct descendant of Robert II, would probably have succeeded James V had he not died in 1536. Mary Stuart was the first member of the royal House of Stuart to use the Gallicised spelling Stuart, rather than the earlier Stewart. Mary had adopted the French spelling Stuart during her time in France, and she and her descendants continued to use it.