The Captive Queen of Scots: Mary, Queen of Scots

By Jean Plaidy

“Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama.”—The New York Times

“Burn the murderess!”

So begins The Captive Queen of Scots, the epic tale of the Scottish Queen Mary Stuart, cousin to Queen Elizabeth of England. After her husband, Lord Darnley, is murdered, suspicion falls on Mary and her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. A Catholic in a land of stern Protestants, Mary finds herself in the middle of a revolt, as her bloodthirsty subjects call for her arrest and execution. In disgrace, she flees her Scottish persecutors for England, where she appeals to Queen Elizabeth for mercy, but to no avail. Throughout Mary’s long years as the Queen’s prisoner, she conceives many bold plans for revenge and escaping to freedom—but the gallows of Fotheringhay Castle loom . . . 

Set against royal pageantry, religious strife, and bloody uprising—and filled with conspiracies, passion, heartbreak, and fascinating historical detail—The Captive Queen of Scots is an unforgettable tale of the intense rivalry between two powerful women of noble blood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 28, 2006
• ISBN: 9780307351982

Jean Plaidy

Jean Plaidy, the pen name of the prolific English author Eleanor Hibbert, was one of the preeminent authors of historical fiction for most of the twentieth century. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide. She died in 1993.

Reviews for The Captive Queen of Scots

[lunacat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The sequel to Royal Road to Fotheringay, The Captive Queen of Scots by Jean Plaidy was an enthralling and fascinating continuation of the tale of Mary, Queen of Scots, specifically dealing with her captivity and time in England once she had been forced to flee Scotland. This book really opened up my eyes to what she went through, and not only her but the stories of the people around her, whether fellow 'prisoners' or those keeping her. It seems that in every tale of Mary and Elizabeth I, there has to be a 'good queen' and a 'bad queen' and in this one, Elizabeth is portrayed in a less than nice light, but the thing that made this book stand out was the characterisation and evocative relating of the era.

[kplatypus_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a historical retelling of the story of Mary, Queen of the Scots. I've always found her story compelling and I liked the cover of this book, so I grabbed it from the library. Unfortunately, the writing is really stilted and the characters end up feeling really one-dimensional. I mean, how many times do I need to be told that Mary could charm any man in the room? Plus, the ending is kind of a done deal, so there's not a lot of suspense built in and the author didn't do a great job of building her own. It's not a terrible book or anything, but it's solidly mediocre. I found it to be a very quick read, but its length (400-odd pages) might discourage others.

[marieburton2004 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Jean Plaidy has written herself another fun-to-read novel and this was a follow up to her "Royal Road to Fotheringay". I found this book to have a sympathetic view on Mary more so than usual. Mary does not want any harm to come to Elizabeth I, her captor for almost 20 years, and in this (fiction) book that is repeated continually in order to propose the more innocent side of Mary. As I have not ready many non-fiction or in-depth books specifically on Mary and her involvement in the many plots that sprang up in order to promote her release, I can not say for sure how involved she was. In this book, Elizabeth is portrayed as indeed wanting Mary to die as soon as possible, because of the religious strife that England had undergone. Before Elizabeth, there was her older half-sister, Mary who had ruled England as a Catholic nation and persecuted the "heretics" with zeal. Smithfield became the place where the executions were taking place and caused so much fear that Protestantism had to be practiced behind closed doors. After Mary I's death, Edward VI was crowned King at 9 years old, allowed Protestantism again through the rule of his Advisers. At Edwards' death, Lady Jane Grey was queen for nine days and finally we come to Elizabeth. She was crowned in 1558, and she was a Protestant. Mary Stuart was very Catholic, although she vowed she would allow her people to freely pray regardless of their beliefs, since that one God was the same God between the two. Due to this tolerance, some of the English would not have minded Mary Stuart being an heir to the throne, and of course, many of the Scottish believed Elizabeth had no right at all to the throne since Elizabeth's mother was Anne Boelyn, who was beheaded and no friend to the Catholic Church. The Catholics liked to call Elizabeth a bastard and therefore felt that Mary Stuart, as a great-granddaughter of Henry VII, had a stronger claim to the throne.It was because of these facts that Elizabeth felt a very strong threat from Mary Stuart, and kept her imprisoned for almost 20 years. The book shows how Mary tried to escape several times. The Babington Plot existed due the arrogance and stupidity of Anthony Babington, for it was just a ruse set up by Walsingham, Elizabeth's agent. Babington was executed, as was the Duke of Norfolk for an earlier plot who wished to marry Mary, although they had not met. In this book, it is portrayed as Mary trying not to have a lot of responsibility in the plots, but that she indeed wanted out of captivity. In reality, she was probably much more shrewd and willing to stop at nothing to get herself out of Elizabeth's grip, and to rule Scotland and England together as eventually Mary's son did. There were many plots created in her name, but not endorsed by Mary.Elizabeth is shown much less sympathetically in this book and is eager to find a way to do away with Mary for good without making it look like she ordered it done.Eventually Elizabeth gets her wish at the end of this book, and a very solemn Mary is beheaded at Fotheringay. There are some who like to believe that Elizabeth did not know she was signing a Death Warrant for Mary, as it was with 'a pile of papers.'I will be eager to read more non-fictions books on the Queen of Scots and try to see where the line is between the truth and fiction regarding her involvement in the many plots, and if she truly loved Bothwell or the Duke of Norfolk. And did George Douglas's love for her exist?I give "The Captive Queen of Scots" 5 stars, of course.

[philsyphe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although I’m English, it doesn’t stop me having the utmost sympathy for Mary, Queen of Scots. In some ways she resembles Marie Antoinette, whom I’m also sympathetic towards. Both had their faults, but they each had a good heart.I really like Jean Plaidy’s version of Mary. Near the end of the book, I was close to tears, and few novels have that affect on me, and it’s all down to the author making me care about Mary and those closest to the unfortunate queen.I would’ve given “The Captive Queen of Scots” five stars, but as always, this author has elements of weakness in her writing style. I wish she’d spent more time revising her novels as opposed to writing as many as possible.As usual, we get the passive voice: “the arms of Eleanor” and “the bridle of her horse”, when the active voice would’ve enhanced the narrative: “Eleanor’s arms” and “her horse’s bridle.”We also have a lot of reported speech, which is passive:“Melville said he thought this would be desirable. So Sir William turned to his mother and asked that wine should be sent to his small private chamber, and there he would confer with the visitor.”Had the author put the above quote in dialogue, it would’ve been much more engaging.Most passive of all is “telling”, not “showing”:“Mary showed her relief.”“Cecil looked shocked.”“Mary was startled. She had not known that change was contemplated. She was alarmed.”The above examples – and there are many others – could all have been “shown” to offer a better reading experience.A typical Plaidy trait, which annoys a lot of her readers, is repetition. One phrase in particular crops up often in this authors books, and it’s greatly overused in this one, namely “without delay”. The number of times this phrase appears shows a lack of imagination, and suggests that the manuscript didn’t receive nearly enough revisions. A keen author would look at replacing an over-repeated phrase with several alternatives.It’s as if the author has the phrase stuck in her head, as sometimes it sounds unnatural, like in this case:“‘I will burn this without delay.’”The character who says the above line then carries on talking for a while, which is in itself a delay. Also, it’s more likely she would’ve said something like, “‘I'll burn this as soon as possible.’”Another example of the phrase sounding unnatural:“‘Who else is with you in this enterprise?’”“‘Certain gentlemen whom you shall meet without delay.’”Again, wouldn’t it be more likely that he’d say, “‘Certain gentlemen whom you’ll meet shortly”? Also, the character doesn’t meet the gentlemen at once, so again there is a delay, which makes the overused phrase sound silly. I wish the author had spent time making every word count.Anyway, apart from the stylistic issues, I enjoyed this novel very much.