Leah Redmond Chang explores the consequences of Henry II’s death, from life at the French court to public shock…
“Mary Queen of Scots, along with her husband Francis, are now the king and queen of France. They’re just teenagers, and they’re entirely unprepared. Francis is quite young. He hasn’t even gone through puberty yet. He’s just really a boy, and he’s been quite sickly. And so, to some degree, it’s truly putting children on the throne of France.
“And in fact, no one in France is really prepared for this because Henry was quite a healthy king, and he was still quite young. So, everyone has sort of imagined that his reign would go on for quite some time, and that Francis and Mary would have time to grow up before they really had to fill his shoes.
“But they don’t have time to grow up. So, Mary is suddenly thrust in this position where she has to be the queen consort. And, for her, even though personally she doesn’t necessarily exert a tremendous amount of power on the reign, her uncles, the Guises, adopt the roles as chief advisers. And so they bring Mary along in their wake.
“So, Mary and her extended family, the Guises are put in a sort of unprecedented position of power. Certainly, much more powerful than they had enjoyed before, even though they were very important advisors before.
“But on a personal level, for Mary, again, it must have been extremely frightening for her, as it was for Francis, to suddenly be put in this position entirely unanticipated.”
Leah Redmond Chang was speaking to Lauren Good on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to her thoughts on the lives of Catherine de’ Medici, Elisabeth de Valois and Mary, Queen of Scots.