Brought up in France, Mary returned to Scotland as a widow at eighteen to take up her throne. Beautiful, clever, with immense personal charm, she was totally unprepared for the brutal realities of ruling a country just emerging from civil war.

In an era when religion and politics were one and the same, the inevitable clash between Catholic queen and Protestant subjects was intensified by the most bitter personal rivalries, and Mary found herself in ever-increasing danger: from the fearsome John Knox, who preached damnation to queens and death to Catholics; from her sanctimonious and ambitious brother; from her brilliant secretary of state; and from Elizabeth I, dazzling and unscrupulous, who feared Mary as a threat to her own throne …