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Mary Stuart was born on December 8, 1542. She was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor. This made her an heir to the English and Irish throne. This was accomplished by the many marriages of Henry VIII that most Catholics believe are illegitimate, from this Elizabeth (daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn) is not the heir to the English throne. Soon after her birth, Mary was betrothed to Francis of France. This arrangement took Mary to France for  thirteen years of her life to be raised and educated in the way that the future queen of France should be. She married Francis, but then his death shortly afterward forced her back to Scotland to govern her own people. After her return to her homeland, she married her cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. This was an extremely unhappy marriage and a year after their marriage an explosion went off in their revealing that Darnley had been strangled to death, Many people in Scotland believed that Mary and her new husband, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell were darnley’s murderers. Mary had one child, James, with James Hepburn. On June 15, 1567, Mary Stuart abdicated the throne because of an uprising about the marriage of Mary and James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. After multiple attempts to regain her throne, Mary fled to England seeking protection from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth.