Mary Queen of Scots

A biography “as enthralling as a detective story” (New York Times Book Review) of the woman who reigned over sixteenth-century Scotland.

Basis for the movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.

Winner of the Whitbread Award

In Mary Queen of Scots, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history’s most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Stuart as a romantic leading lady—achieving her ends through feminine wiles—and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.

Through Guy’s pioneering research and superbly readable prose, we come to see Mary as a skillful diplomat, maneuvering ingeniously among a dizzying array of factions that sought to control or dethrone her. It is an enthralling, myth-shattering look at a complex woman and ruler and her time.

“The definitive biography . . . gripping . . . a pure pleasure to read.” —Washington Post Book World

“Fabulously readable . . . a biography wiped free of mythologizing, shot through with sparkling new interpretations . . . It is a testament to this book's power that more than a few readers will be inclined to bow.” —Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Recent royal shenanigans look tame compared to what John Guy unearths.” —Entertainment Weekly

First published in 2004 as Queen of Scots