Mary deliberately adopted crimson robes for her execution to present herself as a Catholic martyr and maximize political damage to Elizabeth.

60:58Queen of Scots with exactly this reading, but it always bears re-quoting. So, to quote Mattingly, "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

61:27kind of coup de théâtre, that none of the official reports on Mary's death mention it and it was left to Mary's attendants, the six Catholic women who were there with her on the scaffold, to publicize what Mary had done. So, she's there in her her scarlet under-robes and she kisses her ladies farewell and then she kneels down on the cushion that has been laid before the chopping block and

61:50she allows her eyes to be covered by one of her attendants with a white Corpus Christi cloth. And the fateful moment is now at hand. Mary lowers her throat onto the chopping block, but she continues to pray in Latin. Bull steps forwards, he raises his axe and he brings it swinging down and it crashes not onto Mary's neck, but onto the back of her head and she cries out in agony,