Member-only story
Mary Queen of Scots was foolish, gullible, and stupid. So why was she rewritten as a tragic heroine?
She’s definitely not a ‘feminist icon’, she was a moron
Mary Queen of Scots, in American and popular Catholic imagination, is the beautiful Scottish younger cousin of Elizabeth the I, cruelly and wickedly murdered by her wicked Protestant Queen for nobly and feministly standing up for her Scottish throne. She is portrayed with long flaming red Scottish hair, a strong Scottish accent, often in tartan and armour, making excellent political calls and winning the admiration of the men around her.
Literally every word in that section is wrong: she didn’t have a Scottish accent, she was considered French at the time, brought up and lived in France until she turned 18 and became queen, spoke French as a first language, never wore tartan (that was a much later invention), or armour, she never fought in a battle, and was considered ‘foreign’, foolish, ignorant, impulsive, and gullible by her own Scottish court, who eventually chased her out of the country completely. She had a contemporary fanbase in France: but that was more because they wanted England restored to Catholicism than any admiration for her as a person.
Weirdly, this image is actually a product of Irish-Catholic propaganda during The…
