Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.
Portrait attributed to Corneille de Lyon, c. 1537
Arms of Mary of Guise, Magdalen Chapel, Edinburgh
Mary of Guise and her second husband, King James V of Scotland
Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary of Guise's daughter, for whom she acted as regent from 1554 to 1560
James V was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.
Portrait by Corneille de Lyon, c. 1536
John Stewart, Duke of Albany James V's regent from 1515 to 1524
Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, James V's step-father
The four European orders of chivalry to which James V belonged — Garter, Thistle, Golden Fleece and St Michael — on the outer gate he built at his birthplace, Linlithgow Palace