The Weekly, every Sunday: one place worth going and one thing worth reading.
Interesting news · 27 June 2025
Secret Letters Reveal Political Schemes of Mary, Queen of Scots
from bbc.co.uk
Photograph · bbc.co.uk
A cache of 57 encrypted letters written by Mary, Queen of Scots during her imprisonment has been decoded, shedding new light on her political strategy while in captivity.
Hidden in France’s national library and long mislabelled, the documents reveal Mary’s attempts to influence Queen Elizabeth I’s court, particularly through coded instructions to the French ambassador.
The cipher, cracked in 2023 by a team of codebreakers, shows Mary actively managing alliances and dictating messages with precision. Historians now argue she was far more politically capable than once believed, a queen still playing for power as her execution drew near.
The domed brick drum on the north bank of the Clyde, opposite the Radisson RED at the SEC campus, is to open again in May 2027 as The Rotunda and Roundhouse.
