📍Palace of Holyroodhouse, Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DX, UK
1561 – 1567“I became queen at six days old, born at Linlithgow Palace, and at five I was sent across the sea to be raised at the French court, among the royal children, speaking French, dancing, writing poetry and playing music. I married the French king's son and was briefly queen of France. When he died, I came home to Scotland at eighteen, landing at Leith on a misty August morning in 1561, and made the Palace of Holyroodhouse, at the foot of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, my home. I filled it with music, masques and French furnishings, rode and hunted, and held court. Within weeks, John Knox came to my rooms to lecture me about my Catholic faith, and we argued without resolution. In March 1566, while I was at supper with my friends in the tiny room beside my bedchamber, my husband Darnley and a band of armed nobles burst in and dragged my secretary, David Rizzio, away and killed him. My rooms on the second floor of the tower can still be seen.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today