Courtesy of VisitScotland

After the release of ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ on the big screen, we look at the real-life role that Hermitage Castle has played in the true story of the Queen of Scots.

With the high profile release of historical drama Mary Queen of Scots in cinemas last year, the star-studded film, which is based on John Guy‘s acclaimed biography My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, seeks to tell the remarkable life story of the Queen of Scots to a new cinema-going audience.

The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Mary Queen of Scots and Margot Robbie as her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, and chronicles the 1569 conflict between their two countries. Jack Lowden, David Tennant and Guy Pearce also star in supporting roles. The film received favourable reviews, with praise for the performances, particularly Ronan and Robbie, as well as for costumes but it was criticised for the screenplay and several historical inaccuracies, but despite this, the film received three nominations at the BAFTA’s and two at this year’s Academy Awards. There is no doubt that the film was generally well received, and it has certainly re-ignited interest in the fascinating story of Mary Queen of Scots.

Of course, brooding Hermitage Castle in Liddesdale, which has a history that is filled with intrigue, murder, torture and treason, has itself had a real-life starring role in the true story of Mary Queen of Scots. Hermitage is just 5 miles from the English Border and its turbulent history has led to it being described as ‘the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’. But the castle also has a romantic past, with Mary Queen of Scots visiting her secret lover the Earl of Bothwell here as he lay injured.

It was in October 1566, when Hermitage Castle was held by James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell that this dangerous romantic liaison took place. Bothwell was injured in a fight with Border Reivers and when news of this came to the ears of Mary, who was visiting Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, that she dropped everything and rode on horseback over extremely rugged terrain to be by his side.

Still married at the time to Lord Darnley, Mary could not be seen to stay at Hermitage with Bothwell, so after two hours she set off back to Jedburgh. It would be unseemly for a married woman to remain overnight, so she made the 25 mile journey the same day. However, en-route her horse stumbled into a marsh and Mary contracted a dangerous fever from which she nearly died. She would convalesce in a fortified house in Jedburgh now known as “Mary, Queen of Scots’ House” and a well-known museum to the Queen today.

Of course, the story would not have a happy ending, later Bothwell would abduct and possibly rape, then marry and finally abandon Mary to her enemies resulting in her long imprisonment and eventual execution in England.  However, fate also had an unpleasant end in store for Bothwell, he would die insane in a filthy Danish dungeon.

It is often said that the apparition of a white lady at Hermitage Castle is Mary and whilst this may be the stuff of myth and legend, there is no doubt about the starring role that Hermitage has played in the true story of Mary Queen of Scots.

Hermitage Castle is a forbidding and oppressive place. It stands just five miles from the Border with England and guards Liddesdale, so for centuries had considerable strategic importance. Hermitage Castle fell into disuse in the early 1600s but its its fame as a gloomy and romantic ruin spread through the 1800s, Sir Walter Scott had himself painted with Hermitage in the background.

courtesy of VisitScotland

 

Hermitage Castle is a forbidding and oppressive place. It stands just five miles from the Border with England and guards Liddesdale, so for centuries had considerable strategic importance. Hermitage Castle fell into disuse in the early 1600s but its its fame as a gloomy and romantic ruin spread through the 1800s, Sir Walter Scott had himself painted with Hermitage in the background.