Killing The Queen of Scots: Elizabeth I vs The Catholics (Part 5)

Tom Holland: So, that is an extract from one of the most consequential letters in all British history. It was written on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots... what Mary's doing there, Tom, she's giving the green light, isn't she, to something that has been mooted for so many years. The operation to overthrow her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England, and take the throne herself... Mary, you know, 17 days to write her reply. She has been mulling over what she should say, mulling over and over in her mind. But now at last, she has made up her mind. And that's the significance of that otherwise kind of enigmatic phrase, 'Then shall it be time to set the six gentlemen to work.' In other words, get the assassination squad out there. Let them kill Elizabeth.

Tom Holland: And at the end of the letter, there was a PS, which read as follows, 'Fail not to burn this present quickly.' And you can understand why somebody put that PS in there, because what is in this letter could not be more sensitive, more incendiary, because what Mary's doing there, Tom, she's giving the green light, isn't she, to something that has been mooted for so many years. The operation to overthrow her cousin, Queen Elizabeth of England, and take the throne herself. And that's the significance of that otherwise kind of enigmatic phrase, 'Then shall it be time to set the six gentlemen to work.' In other words, get the assassination squad out there. Let them kill Elizabeth.

Tom Holland: Elizabeth's opposition to having Mary executed goes beyond mere foreign policy concerns. She sees it as a threat to her own authority because Mary, like Elizabeth, is an anointed queen. And Elizabeth doesn't want to license anything that might impair the sense her subjects have of the divinity that hedges a king, as Shakespeare would put it. And obviously, if you're anxious to maintain the sense of dignity that surrounds an anointed monarch, then chopping off her head is not the way to maintain it. And for Burleigh and Walsingham, as you said, this is a complete nightmare.

Tom Holland: Elizabeth's opposition to having Mary executed goes beyond mere foreign policy concerns. She sees it as a threat to her own authority because Mary, like Elizabeth, is an anointed queen. And Elizabeth doesn't want to license anything that might impair the sense her subjects have of the divinity that hedges a king, as Shakespeare would put it. And obviously, if you're anxious to maintain the sense of dignity that surrounds an anointed monarch, then chopping off her head is not the way to maintain it.

Tom Holland: She's signed this death warrant, but she doesn't want it used. She is still hoping that someone will get in there and kind of remove Mary, and it won't be in Elizabeth's name... She has Walsingham write a letter to Paulet... Elizabeth is very disappointed that he is yet to live up to the vow that he had made when he signed the bond of association. And why is it, Elizabeth demands to know, that he has not yet, and I quote, 'found out some way to shorten the life of that queen.' And Paulet is appalled, and he replies to the Queen, 'God forbid that I should make so foul a shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot to my poor posterity to shed blood without law or warrant.'

Tom Holland: The black velvet gown fell below her knees, revealing underbodies and petticoat of crimson silk. And she stepped forward suddenly, shockingly, in the color of martyrdom, blood red from top to toe against the somber background. And all the assembled Protestants there go into complete meltdown and they're so appalled by this stunt, this sartorial kind of coup de théâtre, that none of the official reports on Mary's death mention it. ... Mary had been wearing a wig. And that's embarrassing enough, but then there is one final embarrassment because once Mary's sobbing ladies have been removed to their quarters, and the executioners bend down beside Mary's corpse to disrobe it, again complete mortification. Because concealed in Mary's skirts all along has been her favorite dog, a Skye terrier. ... Mary Stuart had always known how to embarrass her enemies, and not just to embarrass them, but to do them the maximum harm.

Tom Holland: The black velvet gown fell below her knees, revealing underbodies and petticoat of crimson silk. And she stepped forward suddenly, shockingly, in the color of martyrdom, blood red from top to toe against the somber background... She keeps her executioners waiting. Of course, she does. She's a diva. She's the star of the show... Mary and the six women who are in attendance on her, they start answering these English prayers with prayers of their own, and these prayers are in the Latin of their own Catholic faith. And the voices of these seven women's drowned the sound of Fletcher... 'The Catholic faith and the assertion of my God-given right to the English crown are the two issues on which I am condemned.'