These secret documents stated that if no heirs were produced from her marriage she bequeathed her realm to the King of France, assigned him full rights to the revenues of Scotland as compensation for sums spent on her education in France and its defense against England, and annulled any promises that she might make on the contrary. The Scots viewed this as a deliberate deception against them although whether or not Mary actually read the documents before signing them is debatable.
On April 19, 1558, Mary and Francis were betrothed in the Great Hall of the Louvre. Five days after their betrothal, the couple were married at Notre-Dame in Paris and Francis became king consort of Scotland. This was the first time that a dauphin had been married in Paris in over 200 years. Although Mary’s marriage has been an integral part of Henri’s foreign policy, the actual timing of the wedding was influenced by Queen Mary’s failure to produce an heir to the English throne.
In July 1559, Mary and Francis became King and Queen of France after the death of Henri from a jousting accident. Now Queen of both Scotland and France, with a formidable army at her disposal, Mary became a real contender for the throne of England. She started using the English coat of arms, refused to renew the Treaty of Edinburgh and for the first time in her life proved an actual threat to the English monarchy.
However, Mary’s power as Queen of France was short-lived. In mid November 1560, while hunting, Francis caught a chill. A frequent sufferer of ill health, the ear infection that he caught whilst hunting in the cold turned into an infection in the brain. On November5, shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Francis died leaving Mary a widow.
Without the title of Queen of France, Mary returned to Scotland where she would soon find out what her power play for the English cost her.
Available free from Amazon:
Mary Queen of Scots Makers of History by Jacob Abbott
Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume I (of 2) by Henry Glassford Bell
Life of Mary Queen of Scots, Volume II (of 2) by Henry Glassford Bell