The Saga of Mary Queen of Scots
In a little less than a year, in late July of 1548, Mary set sail from Dumnbarton in the French ship which would carry her to an unknown destiny as the betrothed of the young Dauphin of France. She would live for the next dramatic years of her life at the most extravagant court in the known world - but on that steamy summer day she must first face the leave-taking, the farewell, the parting from the mother who was the only haven she had ever known.
A queen must never cry, never publicly, but a six-year-old could be pardoned her tears, especially when there was no knowing if mother and daughter would ever meet again. Indeed, it was a question whether or not the ship would make it past the English fleet and into safe port on the western coast of France, in Britanny. Would her French relatives like her? Would she fit in at court? Could she learn the language, and would she forget her own Scottish tongue? In the years to come, with all that her life would bring her of love, adventure, tragedy and despair, this moment - this adieu with her mother - would remain in her mind as the moment of decision, the moment of change, the moment of grief and excitement that began it all.
She did not know that the real beginning had been in a quiet chamber at Falkland Palace in 1542, where her father, desperate at the loss of his army (again to the English) at the battle of Solway Moss, had awaited word of the heir who would be born within days of the battle. If it were a boy - it must be a boy! - there would be hope for a future free of England's shadow. If it were a girl, then woe to the Scots, who would live in the vise of whatever monarch won the little queen as his consort. And when the word came, "it is a healthy daughter, your majesty", the king cried out in weary resignation. "Is it even so? The devil take it! Adieu, farewell! The Stewarts came with a lass, and they shall pass with a lass!" And so saying, he turned his face to the wall and died. And thus are monarchs made.
On August 7, after a delay to await the proper winds, the French ships glided silently out of the
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