Mary Queen of Scots

Man: Come on.

My brother.

James: You must be tired.

I'm quite well.

Your supper is being prepared.

We can have it brought up to your chambers, if you like.

Yes, thank you.

How long are you staying?

At holyrood? In Scotland.

Are you already planning my departure?

Of course not. We've long awaited your return.

Kate will show you to your chambers.

This way, madam.

Lord bothwell, do you intend to stay as well?

I swore an oath to the queen's mother to protect her.

She is well protected here.

Bothwell: I'll uphold my oath just the same.

And what reward does your loyalty command?

I'm driven by duty. Not ambition.

Her protector is lord bothwell. An able soldier.

So, she comes ready for war?

She may well depart once married, but I cannot profess to know her purpose.

What says her brother?

Moray is only her half-brother, madam.

I believe his allegiance is fully with us.

What proof?

He pledges to protect the protestant church from Mary.

Yet he has no power to make such a pledge if he is no longer regent.

The nobles respect him.

But can he control her?

If she is anything like our queen, then she does not yield to a bridle.

So says our master of the horse.

By "bridle," do you speak of matrimony?

You may tell Scotland that we wish to love the Stuarts as our kin.

But they must love us in return.

Cecil: Madam, if I may speak?

While she's on this island, she must bow to you, not to Rome.

Our catholics must know

that a papist will never again sit on the english throne.

What would you suggest?

Kill her hope.

And hopeless, she may return to the comfort of the continent.

Mary: Bravo, rizzio.

Is your hand as good as your French?

My hand, madam?

We are two sisters bound by womanhood.

Two princes on the same island.

Ruling side by side, we must do so in Harmony.

And not through a treaty drafted by men lesser than ourselves.

I wish us to make a treaty of two queens.

I would acknowledge your rightful place on the english throne,

were you to name me your successor.

I hope we might meet in person.

That I might embrace you.

And we might resolve our destinies.

What do you see, Bess?

Charming.

Fair, if the painter does not lie.

Young.

Clever.

Confident.

She would have no trouble securing a husband,

even without her throne.

Nor would you, madam.

Forgive me.

Robert: Elizabeth will not accept my hand in marriage.

You cannot be certain. I know because I know her heart.

The moment I betray it with ambition, I lose her heart.

Would you rather she lose her crown?

You exaggerate.

How much blood has been spilled in Rome's name?

If a catholic queen bears a child before our own,

have no doubt, blood will spill again.

Muster your courage. Save us from her reticence.

She will not produce a child

because her council fears the queen of scots.

Aye.

Robert: Nor will she marry.

She suspects all suitors of wanting her throne.

She will not have me.

Nor would I have a commoner be king, were we not in need of an heir.

I have her trust, you have her affections.

You can succeed where I...

Good morning, William. Madam.

Robert.

Resplendent.

Would you?

James: That's William maitland of lethington, secretary of state.

John Knox, church of Scotland.

Uh, loose string, yeah.

Let us begin.

Cecil: Lord Lennox. My lord.

I would ask our mistress to beseech queen Mary

that I be allowed to return to Scotland...

This is not the place.

It would be wise to have a catholic servant there.

My influence... It is your influence

which emboldened papists here!

You humiliate yourself, father.

I am certain that many of you are unhappy

aligning yourselves with a queen who is French and catholic...

But your queen is in Scotland now.

When my beloved francois passed to god,

I could've married any number of suitors.

Portugal, Denmark, Sweden.

I declined them all.

Just as I would not have a political marriage imposed upon me,

I will not impose an uncertain fate upon my subjects.

They remain free to worship however they so choose,

catholic or protestant.

Pastor, you look displeased with our tolerance.

Any realm that is ruled by the pope is not tolerant, madam.

It is enslaved. Stand when I address you.

There is one true god,

and therefore, one true religion.

Such rhetoric incites revolt.

If a prince strays from god's will,

it is not in doubt that they may be resisted.

And in your case, as with all women,

your sight is but blindness.

Your strength, weakness.

Your counsel, foolishness.

Your judgment, frenzy.

Are we to abide a papist and a woman both?

Well, then, I perceive that my subjects shall obey you, and not me.

May I sit, madam? No.

You may remove yourself from this council and my court.

My council is among the faithful disciples I serve.

We have as little need of this court as it has of us.

I pray for your soul, madam.

I beg you to reconsider. He has the trust of the people.

Did I not give deference to his faith?

Yes. But we must be delicate.

Allegiance does not happen by proclamation...

Where is his delicacy?

That he should speak to a monarch so? Would he challenge Elizabeth thus?

Which is precisely why we must not push him into her arms.

Show him love.

You are wise, brother.

There are times for wisdom and there are times for love,

but there also times for strength.

Mary: Your queen asks for approval.

But how am I to Grant her wish when she offers no suitors?

She would prefer an english nobleman.

And a protestant.

If it pleases your grace.

As long as what pleases me pleases Elizabeth.

Perhaps I should wed you. Then I would have my english nobleman.

I do not think god wills it.

If it be god's will for Mary to marry, then Mary will marry,

and only who god intends for Mary to marry.

I pray he wills Elizabeth marry, too.

No, no. No, no, no.

You share good company.

Maitland dotes on mistress Fleming.

The only difference being that he does not have a wife as you do.

Knox: We have a scourge upon our land.

"Tis worse than pestilence and famine.

"Tis a woman with a crown

who only pretends to worship Christ, when in truth, she kneels before the pope.

We do not take instruction from Rome.

We resist those who would tempt us with indulgences.

Deny those who worship luxury.

Respect not those who flaunt their excesses,

and whore themselves to wealth

and the degradations of the flesh.

Here?

Has he kissed you...

Here?

Once.

But no further.

And what about you?

How well do the english kiss?

Madame...

Mary: Just be wary of these men.

Their love is not the same as their respect.

Might I ask? Since we've not known it ourselves.

What is it like?

To have a man?

Mmm-hmm.

I have only lain with francois.

He shook terribly from fright. The poor boy did his best.

But it was over before it began.

So, you never... no.

We tried but once.

Robert: Beauty's fading flower

grows ever fresh with her in heavenly wise

suffice that love hath built his bower

between my lady's lively shining eyes

Elizabeth: I cannot, Robert. You know that.

To know how it feels to have a man fully.

But not if I am owned.

Mistress seton: You're early.

Lift your arms.

Cecil: Mary will seek a marriage

that strengthens her claim to your throne

and makes her children catholics.

What say'st our ambassador?

She feigns disinterest, madam,

and informs me that the matter of choice in marriage