history-be-written: February 22, 1540: Marie de Guise is crowned Queen of Scots at Holyrood Abbey &l
February 22, 1540: Marie de Guise is crowned Queen of Scots at Holyrood Abbey
“As soon as the pregnancy was confirmed, arrangements went ahead for Marie’s delayed coronation, which was scheduled to take place at Holyrood Abbey on 22 February 1540. Preparations began in October, when Marie was probably only two months pregnant. Keen to enhance the increasing prestige of the Scottish monarchy with an impressive display of royal magnificence, James ordered a new gold crown decorated with pearls and precious stones, and a gilded silver scepter with a raised hand at the end in the French style for his wife. His own crown was remodeled and embellished with twenty-three precious stones, including an enormous amethyst and three beautiful garnets. His own coronation had taken place when he was just 17 months old and had been in a hurried, miserable affair carried out in the chapel royal of Stirling Castle amidst the chaos and uncertainty following his father’s death at Flodden. The fact that he couldn’t remember it didn’t make him any less a King, but it’s likely that James regarded Marie’s coronation as an opportunity to compensate for the unceremoniousness of his own crowning and reinforce his authority upon his nobles, his people and the other crowned heads of Europe.
Sadly, no contemporary description of Marie’s coronation has survived but we know from the records that she was a dazzling sight in a robe of purple velvet, lined with ten ells [arms] of white corded taffeta. The records inform us that James also ordered a new robe for himself, made of thirty-eight ells of purple velvet and lined with forty dozen ermine skins. He also ordered a turquoise ring and a gold belt set with a sapphire - although the latter may have been for Marie’s benefit rather than his own. It’s clear that the royal couple, a pair of tall, attractive redheads must have looked impressive as they walked together down the aisle of Holyrood Abbey where Cardinal Beaton was waiting to perform the crowning and then celebrate Mass before the royal couple and their court returned to the state apartments for a banquet and entertainments.”-Melanie Clegg, “Scourge of Henry VIII: the Life of Marie de Guise”
