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

Linlithgow Palace. The lochside palace where both she and her father James V were born burned out in 1746 and has stood roofless ever since.

Q 02/05

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

A) Six days

B) Six weeks

C) Six months

D) Six years

Answer · why

A) Six days

Six days. With a baby on the throne, regents governed in her name, and she was 18 before she came home from France to rule Scotland herself.

Q 03/05

Told of Mary's birth, dying James V reputedly sighed that the Stewart crown came with a lass, meaning which king's daughter?

A) Robert the Bruce

B) Macbeth

C) Malcolm Canmore

D) William the Lion

Answer · why

A) Robert the Bruce

Robert the Bruce. His daughter Marjorie married Walter the Steward and their son became the first Stewart king; the line did end with a woman, but wit...

Q 04/05

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

A) Madeleine of Valois

B) Marie de Bourbon

C) Mary of Guise

D) Anne of Denmark

Answer · why

C) Mary of Guise

Mary of Guise. Henry VIII had wanted the widowed French duchess as his own fourth wife, but she married his nephew James V instead.

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

Margaret Tudor. She was sent north at 13 to marry James IV and seal a peace with England, yet ten years later he was killed fighting her brother's arm...