圣十字架宫10

Mary had been shaped by foreign tastes and fashions.

To her,Scotland seemed distinctly backward,but Holyrood would have to do.

The most comfortable option in a harsh Scottish winter.

She adapted the old living quarters of her mother, and made them her own.

Richly coloured, hung with thick tapestries to keep out the cold Scottish drafts,

these rooms were far more lavish and comfortable than in most castles in Scotland.

And as Mary lay here and looked up at the wood panelled ceiling.

She must have thought this is not where she intended to be.

After all, she was destined to be the glorious Queen of France,

but then seeing her parents' initials in the ceiling, MR, for Maria Regina,

and IR, for Jacobus Rex, she must have felt she'd come home. IR

Mary took up the reins of power with firm ideas about how she wanted to govern.