WI: Mary Stuart married Don Carlos and is a little bit smarter

1560: Francis II of France dies, leaving his widow, Queen Mary of Scotland to the political whims of her extended family and the regent of France, Catherine de Medici. The Queen of Scots took the month of mourning to figure out her position and where she planned on taking herself. After long debates with the Duke of Guise and her former mother-in-law, Mary Stuart decided to return to her home country for a time until she had set upon and finalised marriage plans to protect the religious and political state of her country.

1561: Mary of Scotland arrives in Scotland and is not met with much fanfare. Her countrymen see her as a French foreigner, an invader there to make the current situation even more unstable. However, she immediately makes a good impression by announcing her official stance on the religious situation: everyone do what you want. The Scottish people take great joy in the neutral position, which manages to somewhat neuter the growing tensions between the two warring factions. The Queen also refuses to ratify the original Treaty of Edinburgh, instead sending a revised version (one she had rewritten herself on the trip from her French estates to Scotland) that outlined a realistic phasing out of French troops and the legal agreement that Mary, and any children she may have, would be the heirs to the English throne. The treaty is sent back with a ‘everything but the heir thing’ rewrite in return and so Mary, in retaliation, requests that there may be some sort of benefit to her that is in compensation for this loss, which eventually leads to the addition title and revenues of the Dukedom of Clarence until her death, naturalising her as a citizen of England. In return the English Queen is made Duchess of Roxburghe, with any revenues going to the English Queen. The Queen also makes the acquaintance of Henry Stewart, the man who man feel would make a great match for her (everyone is mostly made up of his mother). However, this acquaintance would not move into anything greater for a number of reasons; the meeting begins by Lord Henry insulting an attendant of the Queen’s, the Lord Henry mistakenly believes the Queen has hatred of Catherine de Medici and as such insults her regularly and the Lord Henry has a sore on his face that day that manages to make him especially unappealing. The tall lad is as such forgotten by the Queen, except to say as a gossipy little story later that night. The Reformation Council meets with the Queen and (in a way that makes it clear what she wants is not going to make much of a difference) ask as to her decisions for domestic policy. Her speech is recorded as brilliant, sweet and strong. Do not make war, let the country prosper in peace. She signs a document at this meeting that passes law that no man, woman or child must be harmed due to their Christian religion, and if the law is broken the perpetrator must be dealt with as a murderer.

1562: The Queen reveals her foreign policy with one big bang, she will be married to the Spanish Don Carlos of Spain, the heir to the Spanish throne. At this announcement she is warned off it by multiple parties in various ways. Elizabeth Tudor sends a threat to cease the new Treaty of Edinburgh, to which Mary calls her bluff and claims that she could never imagine such disloyalty from the English Queen, so why must she be imagined as disloyal. Catherine de Medici sends vaguely threatening letters, at which Mary Stuart ignores, not wanting to confront the regent but refusing to end her plans. She also receives a warning from Antoinette of Guise, who tells her that the Spanish Prince is no Francis, he is a very violent and angry man. She leaves Scotland late in the year, leaving the Reformation Council in charge while demanding constant updates on the countries domestic and international situation.

1563: Mary Stuart arrives in Scotland and is greeted by her French friend Elisabeth of France, who was pregnant at the time. She lovingly greets her former sister-in-law, who wants her to quickly understand that Spain is not another France, it was cold and austere. Mary makes a fine impression on the King himself, who greets her as a man greets a beautiful woman. However, when Mary meets Carlos, things go downhill. He at first makes an effort to seem charming and kind, but then the fall in 1562’s effects began to take hold again and he became belligerent and mean, pointing out the length of Mary’s nose (a flaw generally overlooked due to the overall attractiveness of the Queen) and named her ‘horse woman’, saying that the Scots were a race of the same. But the marriage went through all the same and the two were married in October. After this, Carlos initially refused to consummate the marriage, until a plea from Elisabeth caused him to allow himself to do the deed.

1564: Mary Stuart receives reports of the prosperous nature that the agricultural industry in Scotland is doing, which allows the country to prosper. Mary, however, was not doing so well. The Queen became pregnant almost immediately, which allowed Carlos to stop his hated consummation with her. When asked why he hated Mary Stuart so much, he replied:

Never in my life has a woman so lengthy or so wrong entered my life. She is a horse in a court of doves and I hate her so.

Mary, so used to love and affection by all surrounding her, took to having long, private crying bouts and consoling herself in her pregnancy. However, she witnessed the terrors of the birthing chambers when Elisabeth tragically lost her twin daughters early in the year. Mary herself went through her pregnancy with an air of tragedy, sending complaints of the food every day and general becoming disagreeable. In late August the Queen of Scots gave birth to Isabella Maria of Spain, a pretty babe with her mother’s fair skin and the Habsburg nose. After Mary Stuart was churched she was forced back to trying to get another Catholic heir from Carlos.

1565: Mary Stuart becomes pregnant again, but loses the child a couple months later, to the rage of her husband. She is protected by her friend Elisabeth, who calms the angry Carlos multiple times. However, the European gossip markets talk about the marriage of Don Carlos and Mary Stuart, which is known as the biggest failure in the royalty. Mary is regularly seen sporting bruises on her one flawless complexion and she begins to wear gloves to cover the bruises on her hands and arms, which are known to be deep purple constantly. She becomes pregnant again, ready for a birth midway through the next year.

1566: Mary Stuart gives birth to her second child, Joanna Eugenia of Spain, who is very pale with pale hair and non-descript features. Carlos rages again, but also shows a love for this child, calling her a pretty fawn. Queen Mary then spend her time with Elisabeth as she enters the birthing chambers and gives birth to Catherine Michelle of Spain, who is a dark haired, pale baby.

1567: Carlos suffers a fit early in the year, just before Mary discovers that she is pregnant. The young man is placed into a room away from the rest of the court, where he starved himself to death after learning that Elisabeth was not allowed to meet with him any time. His death left Mary a widow, a pregnant widow. She gave birth to twins in October, a boy and a girl named Philip of Spain and Anna Manuela of Spain, though Anna Manuela dies two months later. . She then learns of her widowhood and makes a decision, which is to take her children to Spain. But that is not allowed for Philip, who is the future King of Spain. So she takes her two Princesses and leaves for Scotland, leaving her son in the care of his grandfather. As she leaves Elisabeth gives birth to her second living child, Ferdinand of Spain. She, however, dies after three week of sickness following the birth of Ferdinand.

Mary Stuart m. Don Carlos of Spain
1- Isabella Maria of Spain (b.1564)
2- Miscarriage (b.1565: d.1565)
3- Joanna Eugenia of Spain (b.1566)
4- Philip of Spain (b.1567)
5- Anna Manuela of Spain (b.1567: d.1567)
 
Interesting.

I'm not sure how welcome she would be in Scotland (or her Spanish husband) due to the religious dogma of the time.

Who is running Scotland in her absence in Spain?

The Predominantly Protestant nobles?
 
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