Mary, Queen of Scots, Wrote This Letter Hours Before She Was Executed. Her Words Are Going on Display for the First Time in Years

The deposed Scottish queen wrote the four-page missive to her brother-in-law just a few hours before her execution in 1587

Sarah Kuta | Daily Correspondent

December 18, 2025

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On the morning of February 8, 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, knelt at an execution block in the great hall of Fotheringhay Castle. The 44-year-old deposed Scottish queen said a few last words before the executioner raised his ax, delivering three sharp blows to her neck. Once his bloody deed was done, the executioner held up her severed head and famously yelled, “God save the queen.”

That gruesome scene is firmly etched in the annals of history. But less well-known are the moments leading up to Mary’s beheading, her punishment for plotting to assassinate her Protestant cousin, Elizabeth I, the English queen.

Soon, history buffs will be able to learn more about Mary’s final hours. Early next year, a letter she wrote just hours before her death will go on display for the first time in nearly a decade at the Perth Museum in Scotland.

The letter is part of the collection at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh—and it rarely leaves the vaults, let alone the building, to protect it from damage. Conservationists are particularly concerned about its exposure to light.

The last time it was exhibited, when the library put it on display for a single day in 2017, “queues of people” formed along the George IV Bridge for a chance to see it, says Alison Stevenson, director of collections, access and research at the National Library of Scotland, in a statement. The upcoming display at the Perth Museum is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity for people to see the last letter,” she adds.

The letter is being shown at the Perth Museum as part of “OUTWITH: National Library Around Scotland,” a special series of loans, events and activities taking place throughout Scotland as the National Library celebrates its 100th anniversary.

At the neighboring AK Bell Library in Perth, curators will also be organizing a companion exhibition called “The Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots.” It will include a handwritten draft of Robert Burns’ poem “Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Approach of Spring” and early versions of Liz Lochhead’s play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off.

“Mary’s poignant last words will be displayed within a wider immersive exhibition, directly above the Stone of Destiny and objects from the reigns of her son and grandson, so we really do view this as a homecoming,” says Ashleigh Hibbins, head of audiences and learning at Culture Perth and Kinross, the charitable trust that manages the Perth Museum and the AK Bell Library, in the statement.

Mary wrote the letter around 2 a.m. on the day of her execution, scribbling the four-page missive in French to her brother-in-law, Henry III, the king who ruled France from 1574 to 1589.

“Tonight, after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning,” she wrote, according to an English translation from the National Library of Scotland.

She lamented that her papers had been taken away, and that she wouldn’t be able to make a will. Mary also complained that, although her Catholic chaplain was in the building, she had not been allowed to see him so that he might “hear my confession and give me the Last Sacrament.” Instead, only a Protestant minister had been made available to her, she wrote. Mary also asked Henry to ensure her servants got paid, which she described as a “burden on my conscience.”

Additionally, Mary vehemently proclaimed her innocence, asserting she was condemned for her Catholic faith and her claim to the English throne, not for any crime.

“I scorn death and vow that I meet it innocent of any crime,” she wrote.

To Chris Cassells, head of archives and manuscript collections at the National Library of Scotland, the text sheds light on how Mary viewed herself in her “final hours on earth.” The letter itself is “undeniably a really special document,” he tells BBC Scotland’s Cara Berkley.

“It’s in her own hand,” he adds. “It has her signature. She touched it. She folded it up to be sent off to France.”

The letter will be on view at the Perth Museum from January 23 through April 26, 2026. “The Legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots” will be on view at the AK Bell Library from January 23 through April 25, 2026.

Sarah Kuta | Read More

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.