Signed letter from Queen Elizabeth I more than doubles its estimate at sale

AUCTION: Document part of failed attempt to halt marriage of Mary Queen of Scots

A signed letter from Queen Elizabeth I requesting safe passage through Scotland for her ambassador in a doomed mission to stop the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, has fetched £52,500 at auction.

The 453-year-old document, which more than doubled its estimate, was sent from Westminster to the governor of Berwick Upon Tweed on April 28 1565.

It instructed the governor and other officials to allow her new representative, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, and his servants to pass through peacefully on route north.

The letter, signed at the top “Elizabeth R”, was bought by a UK private collector bidding on the phone at Christie’s in London. The £52,500 sum was the second highest price achieved at auction for a document signed by the 16th Century English monarch.

Throckmorton was tasked with stopping Mary from marrying Lord Darnley, and persuading her instead to marry Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who was one of Elizabeth’s own courtiers.

While Throckmorton failed in his mission – Mary married Darnley at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh on July 29 1565 – the letter he carried with him to Scotland is significant as it shows how much of a threat Elizabeth perceived them to be.

Thomas Venning, head of books and manuscripts at Christie’s, said: “We are very pleased with the result, which is the second highest price for an Elizabeth I document.

“There was a flurry of bidding initially but most of the bidding was between the telephone and a bidder in the room.”

Mary, Queen of Scots – played by Saoirse Ronan opposite Margot Robbie as Elizabeth in a new film on the tragic queen’s life – and the volatile nobleman Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, were both descendants of Henry VII, and in the line of succession for the English crown.

The document was sent from Westminster to the governor of Berwick Upon Tweed on April 28 1565.