A Letter from Tim VIcary (through OUP UK)

I am delighted and honoured to receive the SSS Book award 2002 for my book Mary Queen of Scots. It was an interesting story to write and I am glad that so many Japanese students have enjoyed reading it. Mary is a well-known figure in English and Scottish history, and many books have been written about her sad and tragic story. people still ask questions, such as: Was she guilty of the murder of her handsome and stupid husband, Lord Darnley? Was she more beautiful than the English queen, Elizabeth? What would have happened if the two queens had met? And what did it feel like to be locked in an English prison for so many years, writing letters to her son James whom she had not seen since he was a baby?
Mary lived in a difficult, dangerous time for female rulers. Their biggest problem was how to find a husband and still keep their independence. Mary married three times, and her reign was a disaster. The English queen, Elizabeth, never married at all, and her reign is usually seen as a great success. But she had no children, so when she died it was Mary’s son, James, who became the first king of England and Scotland - and the two countries are still united today.
And what about the other Queen - Bloody Mary? Well, she was Queen Elizabeth’s older half sister. Their father, King Henry VIII, divorced Mary’s mother so that he could marry Elizabeth’s mother instead, and because the Pope was against the divorce, King Henry became a Protestant and began to make England a Protestant country. But Mary and her mother were still Catholics, so when Mary became Queen, she wanted to make England a Catholic country again. Many Protestant churchmen were burned alive in huge fires, or had their heads cut off. That is why she is called Bloody Mary. But she died without having any children, so in 1558 her younger sister Elizabeth became Queen and England became a Protestant country once again.
This was a time when the religion of the king and queen was really a matter of life or death. So from the main problem with the second Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, was that she was a Catholic, while Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant. The Protestants in England were afraid that if Mary became Queen of England she would be a second Bloody Mary, and start killing Protestants all over again. That’s why she died in prison.

Tim Vicary