Henry Stuart | |
---|---|
King consort of Scots | |
Tenure | 29 July 1565 – 10 February 1567 |
Born |
Temple Newsam, Yorkshire, England |
7 December 1545
Died | 10 February 1567 Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, Scotland |
(aged 21)
Burial | Holyrood Abbey |
Spouse |
Mary, Queen of Scots m. 1565; dec. 1567 |
Issue | James VI and I |
House | Stuart (Darnley branch) |
Father | Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox |
Mother | Lady Margaret Douglas |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Henry Stuart (or Stewart), Duke of Albany (7 December 1545 – 10 February 1567), styled as Lord Darnley until 1565, was king consort of Scotland from 1565 until his murder at Kirk o' Field in 1567. Many contemporary narratives describing his life and death refer to him as Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox, and it is by this appellation that he is now generally known.
He was the second but eldest surviving son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas. Darnley's maternal grandparents were Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England and widow of James IV of Scotland. It is the common belief that Darnley was born on 7 December, but this is disputed. He was a first cousin and the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was the father of her son James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I of England as James I.
Darnley was born in 1545, at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The historian Alison Weir believes he was born in 1546 as his parents were not in the same place in early 1545 and citing a letter that Mary, Queen of Scots wrote in March 1566 stating that Darnley was then nineteen years old. Through his parents, he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII of England.