The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Mount Stuart has an fantastic collection of items associated with Mary Queen of Scots, this print was the first mass produced image of the execution taken from a bystanders account, gruesome but accurate.
Other items include two small embroidered pieces one said to be her last and an eyewitness account of the execution by Sir Robert Wingfield of Upton, who attended as an observer for his uncle William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Chief Minister to Elizabeth I of England. In 2007 – some 420 years after the fateful execution – the Mount Stuart Trust published the manuscript in its entirety for the first time, together with a foreword by Mary’s celebrated biographer Antonia Fraser. ‘ The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots’
Bute Archive Mount Stuart
The Bute Collection contains 25,000 rare books and artefacts in one of the UK’s foremost private collections. Housed in the magnificent Gothic revival mansion of Mount Stuart on the isle of Bute, it provides a glimpse into centuries of art and history reflecting the interests of successive generations of the Bute family. Visitors can view everything from works on theology and ornithology to porcelain and custom-made furniture. A recent find of global significance is a Shakespeare First Folio containing many of the Bard’s most familiar plays.
