Elizabeth’s letter outlining plan for Mary fetches £52k
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, sold for £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 en 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 ever 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.”
A new movie, Mary Queen of Scots, is released this month, starring Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan as Elizabeth and Mary, although it is historically inaccurate as it features them meeting in person.
While Elizabeth won in life, Mary would win in death, as her cousin died childless and it was her son with Darnley, King James VI and I, who became the first monarch to rule a united British kingdom, in 1603.
Mr Venning said: “The price is testament to the appeal of this document, which Throckmorton would have carried with him on his journey up to Scotland.”