Mary of Guise

Who was Mary of Guise?

Mary of Guise was queen of Scotland as the second spouse of King James V. She was the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and served as regent of Scotland in her daughter's name from 1554 to 1560. A native of Lorraine, she was a member of the powerful House of Guise, which played a prominent role in 16th-century French politics. Her main goal was a close alliance between the powerful French Catholic nation and small Scotland, which she wanted to be Catholic and independent of England. She failed and at her death the Protestants took control of Scotland. In evaluating her life historian Rosalind K. Marshall says:

Sacrificing her own comfort, interests, and ultimately her life, Mary of Guise had fought a long, desperate, and, in the end, hopeless struggle to preserve Scotland as a pro-French, Roman Catholic nation for her daughter....Charming, highly intelligent, and hard-working, with a diplomatic manner and an ability to fight on regardless of hostility, disappointment, and ill health, Mary was never merely a pawn of the French king.