Q 01/05

Where was Mary born on 8 December 1542?

A) Stirling Castle

B) Linlithgow Palace

C) Falkland Palace

D) Holyrood Palace

Answer · why

B) Linlithgow Palace

She was said to have been born prematurely and was christened at the nearby Church of St Michael.

Q 02/05

How old was Mary when she became Queen of Scotland on the death of her father?

A) Six weeks

B) Six months

C) Six days

D) Six years

Answer · why

C) Six days

Her father James V may have died of a nervous collapse after the defeat at Solway Moss.

Q 03/05

In a tale first recorded by John Knox, what did the dying king say on hearing he had a daughter?

A) "Send her to France before the English come"

B) "God help Scotland, for I cannot"

C) "A lass will never hold the Stewart crown"

D) "It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass!"

Answer · why

D) "It cam wi' a lass and it will gang wi' a lass!"

The Stuarts had won the crown through Marjorie Bruce; the prophecy was fulfilled by Queen Anne, not Mary.

Q 04/05

Who was the queen's mother, who later served as regent of Scotland?

A) Madeleine of Valois

B) Marie de Bourbon

C) Mary of Guise

D) Margaret Tudor

Answer · why

C) Mary of Guise

Her brothers, the Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Lorraine, dominated France during Mary's brief reign as its queen.

Q 05/05

Through which grandmother, sister of Henry VIII, did Mary derive her claim to the English throne?

A) Mary Tudor

B) Margaret Beaufort

C) Margaret Tudor

D) Elizabeth of York

Answer · why

C) Margaret Tudor

That made her Henry VIII's great-niece and, to many Catholics, the rightful queen of England.