Mary orchestrated her execution as a theatrical act of Catholic martyrdom, wearing crimson robes to symbolize martyrdom and publicly defying Protestant rites.

60:04into silence, but Mary carries on. >> [laughter] >> You know, I said she's a diva. She slips to her knees, and she pulls out a silver cross from her skirts, and she raises it, and then she begins to pray in English so that everyone present will understand what she's saying. And her prayers are for her enemies, for Elizabeth, and for England, and it's incredible theater. >> Very embarrassing for her executioners,

60:32of course, but there's worse to come, isn't there? And this is about what she's wearing. >> Yes, so we said she dressed with great care. >> The time has come for >> her execution, and so her attendants prepare her for the chopping block by removing first her veil, and then her black outer garments. And I will read from Mattingly's account. Um, we actually began our series um, on Mary

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,

62:20"Lord Jesus, receive my soul." And then comes a second blow and this time it is directly onto the neck, but even now the the blow isn't a clean one and Bull has to use the blade of the axe rather like a cleaver to hack and saw the head clean off. And even now, even in death, Mary still has two surprises in wait for her killers. So, when Bull