The undoing of Mary QOS
This has been discussed much, so apologies, but she particularly fascinates me. Mary took several steps wrong throughout her reign, no doubt, though i will contend that she was kind of doomed from the get go, with growing up in France which ultimately isolated her people. anyway i think her biggest miscalculation was being so hungry for the English throne in the first place, which likely influenced her decision to marry Darnley. i’d like to think that if she didn’t feed into the propaganda of her being the rightful heir (which she absolutely was not), instead of Elizabeth, focused on gaining more support amongst her Scottish people, then she would’ve kept her head? or maybe either way, one of them was always going to the execution block because the nobles on both sides wouldn’t let it rest until one was completely anihaliated. i say so because of Elizabeth’s alleged shock after it was done, and her regret till the end (allegedly). it makes me think they held the crown yes, but were surrounded by men with their own political agendas to fulfill so was a losing game. or am i naive and underestimating their agency? this is not me denying that Mary dug her own grave, she absolutely did lol