to nothing, Lady Margaret, soon after Queen Mary's return to Scotland, endeavoured to awaken the queen's interest in Darnley by sending his tutor, Arthur Lyhart, to Scotland to communicate with her (ib.) These intrigues of the Lady Margaret were closely watched by Elizabeth; and in November 1561 she and Darnley were summoned to London and placed in confinement [see under Douglas, Lady Margaret]. But towards the close of the following year they were set at liberty, and soon afterwards were received, at least nominally, into favour, Darnley being in almost daily attendance on Elizabeth, and frequently playing before her on the lute (Cal. State Papers, For. 1563, No. 1027).
After the departure of Lennox for Scotland [see under Stewart, Matthew, fourth Earl of Lennox], Sir James Melville [q. v.] was secretly commissioned by Mary Queen of Scots to obtain permission from Elizabeth for Darnley to pass to Scotland, that ‘he might see the country, and carry the earl his father back again to England.’ All the while Elizabeth was ostensibly engaged in the promotion of a marriage between Mary and Leicester; but that she knew perfectly the ulterior purpose of Darnley's visit to Scotland might be assumed, even had there not been the testimony of her own remark to the Scottish ambassador Sir James Melville: ‘Ye [that is ‘you Scots,’ or ‘you and your mistress’] like better of yon long lad’ (Melville, Memoirs, p. 120). True, Melville discreetly answered that ‘No woman of spirit would make choice of sic a man, that was liker a woman than a man;’ but it is impossible to suppose that the reply was sufficient to deceive Elizabeth. In fact—whatever may have been her motive, and not improbably it was a desire to prevent an arrangement with Leicester, although he was the suitor she herself had selected—Elizabeth virtually sent Darnley to Scotland in order that he might visit Mary.
Leaving London on 3 Feb. 1564–5, he reached Berwick on the 10th. On arriving on the 13th at Edinburgh, he found that the queen was at Wemyss Castle; and on the 18th, at the suggestion of his father who was in Atholl, he went to Wemyss to pay his respects to her, remaining there for two or three days. After visiting his father in Atholl he again returned to Edinburgh, shortly before the queen's arrival there. The two main incidents following his arrival in Edinburgh were his attendance on the preaching of Knox and his dancing a galliard with the queen the same evening, the Earl of Moray looking on. It may be that neither Moray nor Knox at first was altogether unfavourable to the match, but much depended on Darnley's character and inclinations. Chiefly, if not solely, on the grounds, first, that Mary expressed to Melville the opinion that Darnley ‘was the properest and best-proportioned long man that ever she had seen’ (ib. p. 134), and secondly, that when Darnley fell ill of the measles in Stirling, Mary spent much of her time in his sick room, the theory has been formed that the brilliant and beautiful widow of twenty-two fell violently in love with this girl-faced youth of nineteen. If so, the fact would be little to her credit; for there was nothing in Darnley's character or talents to fascinate any one of average intelligence; and it is at least significant that the queen made no mention to Melville of any special excellence or charm in his disposition.
With regard to Darnley's attitude to Mary there is certainly no evidence of any strong affection. Indeed the vain efforts of Mary to captivate the handsome but headstrong youth are almost pathetic, especially in view of the disastrous sequel. She failed with Darnley almost as wofully as she had done with Knox. Occasionally by adroit flattery she was able to obtain important victories; but all the evidence goes to show that she never had any real hold on his affections, such as they were. On the contrary, their natures seem to have been strongly antagonistic, although neither probably realised their utter incompatibility of temperament until after the marriage. But in the case of both, other considerations were paramount. Darnley had the hope of the joint sovereignty of two kingdoms; Mary, now that the more brilliant prospects of the Spanish alliance had vanished, had concentrated her ambition on winning the sovereignty of England for herself and Britain for Roman catholicism through the Darnley alliance.
On 15 March Darnley was knighted and created Earl of Ross. After his recovery in April from an attack of measles at Stirling, it was announced, but on no tangible evidence [see under Mary Queen of Scots], that he had been secretly married to the queen; again, on l6 July, it was reported that the marriage had taken place secretly on the 9th, and that he and the queen had gone to bed at Seton (Cal. State Papers, For. 1564–1565, No. 1298). On the 22nd a dispensation for the marriage arrived from the pope, and the same day Darnley was created Duke of Albany (Bedford to Cecil, 23 July, ib. No. 1312); finally, on the 29th, the marriage did take place in the chapel of Holyrood. The opposition to it in Scotland is to be traced mainly to Darnley's imprudence.
