
Mary was a Catholic, but Scotland was a Protestant country and she found it hard to control both the Church and her nobles. After being widow (= vedova)of the Dauphin of France, and looking for help she married the vain(= vanitoso) and cruel Lord Darnley. The marriage was a disaster. Mary began to grow close (= avvicinarsi) to her young secretary David Rizio, and jealous, Darnley, had the young man brutally murdered. Lord Darnley himself died in a mysterious explosion. Soon afterwards (=dopo) and many people believed that Mary had planned (=organizzato) his death.
When the young Queen later married her new love, the Earl of Bothwell, her noblemen rebelled and imprisoned Mary in the island castle of Lochleven .
With the help of friends Mary managed (=riuscì) to escape from her rooms in the castle disguised (=travestita) as a maid and made her way to England . Queen Elizabeth was not pleased to see her young catholic rival and she imprisoned Mary in a series of remote castles. Mary’s passion for intrigue continued and many plots were discovered by Elizabeth ’s agents. The English Queen was afraid to put a Catholic relative on trial (= in processo), but once a plot (= complotto) was revealed involving the murder of Elizabeth and an invasion from Spain , Mary’s fate was sealed. (=segnato).
Mary was executed at Fortherinhay Castle in 1587. She had been a captive in Britain for 19 years.
after her execution it was discovered that Mary was wearing a large red wig (= parrucca)