Mary literally did not have to lift a finger to come to power. She immediately becomes Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old because of the sudden death of her father. She became Queen of France because of the death of the King Henry and he marriage with the dead King’s son Francis II.
On April 4, 1558, Mary signed an agreement that claims England to the French throne if she died unexpectedly. Two weeks and six days later Mary married Francis II at Notre Dame de Paris. King Henry died July 10, 1559 from a jousting accident, therefore the 15 year old Francis II becomes King of France while Mary at age 16 becomes his queen consort. Mary’s uncles the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine dominated the French politics. Historians call this era “la tyranne Guisenne” because the Guise family was dominating. On July 11, 1560, Mary’s mother, Mary of Guise died.
Her husband Francis II died on December 5, 1560 from an ear infection that reached his brain and caused an abscess on his brain. Nine months later after her husband’s death, the grieving Mary moved back to Scotland. This caused trouble because Scotland was now a Protestant nation but Mary was a Catholic. This religious war between Protestants and Catholics was a dangerous, bloody, and political