QUEEN OF PLOTS
Monarch’s letter subterfuge is finally decoded by experts
CODE breakers have cracked the lost letters of Mary Queen of Scots more than 430 years after she wrote them in captivity.
The enciphered letters were written by Mary while she was imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I and were believed to have been lost.
They were uncovered in a French library by an international team and decoded by computer and manual means.
Mary complains about her health, conditions in captivity, her doubts over negotiations for her release, her distrust of Elizabeth’s spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham and her animosity for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and a favourite of Elizabeth.
She was held captive for 19 years because she was seen as a Catholic threat to Protestant Elizabeth.
Mary was 44 when she was executed on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringhay Castle, Northants.
Decoders George Lasry, Norbert Biermann and Satoshi Tomokiyo only realised Mary was the author after solving her sophisticated cipher system.
They reveal around 50 new scripts previously unknown to historians. Cryptographer Dr Lasry said: “Upon deciphering the letters, I was very, very puzzled and it felt surreal.
“We have broken secret codes from kings and queens, and they’re very interesting.
“But with Mary Queen of Scots it was remarkable as we had so many unpublished letters deciphered and because she is so famous.”
John Guy, who wrote the 2004 biography of Mary, said: “This discovery is a literary and historical sensation. Fabulous! This is the most important new find on Mary Queen of Scots for 100 years.”