I was born in 1535 (some historians say 1534) to Patrick and Agnes Sinclair Hepburn. My father was a Lord High Admiral of Scotland and served during the regency of Marie de Guise, the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots. Though my father and I were both Protestant, we showed our loyalty to the Queen Mother. In 1556, I ascended to my earldom at the age of 21 upon my father's death and also inherited such titles as Sheriff of Edinburgh and Lord High Admiral of Scotland.
Marie de Guise, the mother of Queen Mary and a regent
I was an accomplished sailor and traveled all around Europe. As a youngster, I went to Denmark, Norway and France to study military law and other subjects, such as natural sciences and history. Unlike the other Scottish nobles, I was fluent in French and Italian and well versed in liberal arts. In Norway, I met my first love, Anna Throndsen. Her powerful family loaned me money to sail around, based on the premise that I would eventually marry her. Well, I never knew that this would ultimately cost my life.
Mary Stuart as Dauphine of France in 1558
Me and Mary, when we first met
I initially met Mary at the French Court in 1560, along with her husband, Francis II of France. The young King died shortly after due to an ear infection, and Mary came back to Scotland on August 1561. Even though I was a Protestant, I remained just as loyal to the Queen as I was to her mother, who promoted me to a main commander for the border patrol. It was my duty to protect her from the fellow Protestants and the English. England constantly invaded our land at the time, and I skillfully managed to keep them away from entering. Marie de Guise was impressed by my command, and adviced her Queen daughter to put her trust in me, which she did.
My entourage
James Stewart, Earl of Moray and a bastard child of James V
I was a proud Scotman and disliked such acts as plotting and schemeing in general. I tried to stay away as much as I could from those activities in court. The power-hungry James Stewart, Earl of Moray (also spelled as Murray), a constant schemer and a bastard child of the late James V, hated my guts for I would not involve in any of his plots. He once fled to England because of his conspiracy against Mary, and sought Queen Bess's assistance.
Queen Bess
Queen Elizabeth, ever since she ascended to the throne, secretly supported the Protestants in Scotland and funded Moray for her cause. Moray was later pardoned by Mary, which I think was the biggest mistake on her part. He became insecure of the increase of my power in court and started to ostracize me. When he was plotting with Lord Darnley to kill David Rizzio in front of Mary, I told them that I would not join in such a plot. Instead, I was there to protect Mary, who was six-month pregnant with the future Prince James. By remaining loyal to Queen, I won Mary's favor and we became very close, especially after Darnley murdered her private secretary, David Rizzo.
David Rizzio, Mary's Italian secretary
On March 9th, 1566, when Mary and Rizzio were enjoying supper in the side room of her bedchamber at Holyrood, Darnley and several others stormed in and stabbed Rizzio to death. Mary attempted to stop such an act, but to no avail, for she was retsrained the whole time. This murder was said to be plotted due to Lord Darnley's jealousy toward this poor secretary. But Rizzio was Darnley's favorite and amongst his close friends. Many suspected that the main targets were rather Mary and her unborn baby. With a new heir coming into the picture, it would dramatically decrease Darnley's chance to succeed Mary's throne. By conducting such an atrocious murder in front of the heavily pregnant Queen, he could kill or seriouly hurt those who stood in his way by inducing her miscarriage. Mary, as distraught as she was, endured the horrific event. Three months later, on June 19th 1566, she gave birth to her son James at Edinburgh Castle.
Rizzio's murder at Holyrood Palace in 1566
After Darnley became King Consort, his demeanor notably became more arrogant. He was raised like a Prince by his parents and he himself thought he had a strong claim to the both Scottish and English throne, being a great grandson of Henry VII of England. Darnley, a Catholic, was initially confronted by Protestant Moray, but they shared a same goal which was to overthrow Mary. The only difference was that who would get the crown. Darnley wanted it for himself and Moray, either Darnley or the Prince, whichever benefited him. Seeing Mary placing more trust in me, especially after Rizzio's murder, they felt threatened. They first tried to recruit me into their ring, but after I refused to take part and swore my faith in Queen, they started to ostracize me in court.
Lord Darnley
On the night of February 9th 1567, one of the most intriguing events in the modern European history was about to occur. Mary was visiting her husband Darnley at his apartment in Kirk O'Field. By 9PM, he had already parted with Mary, and went to his bed around 11PM. What happened to him during the following few hours still remains a mystery and is the center of debates to this day. Around 2AM, a loud explosion occurred and his unharmed, naked body was found. He seemed to have been strangled to death before the explosion. My rivals in the Court held me as the prime suspect, which made no sense whatsoever, since there were absolutely no evidences of me conducting such a plot. In addition, Darnley was already terminally ill from Syphilis, so if I ever had an intent to kill him, all I had to do was to wait. My enemies at the time included, Moray, William Maitland, Earl of Arran to name a few. They ALL had sufficient motives to kill the King.
The sketch of the crime scene
James Douglas, Earl of Morton; he was later executed by Mary's son, James VI
Historians often describe me as an arrogant young man with a desire to become a King Consort by marrying the Queen. Let me tell you. I was not like Lord Darnley, who only cared about seizing power for himself. I cared about Scotland and Mary. By us uniting in marriage, we could have retained the Scottish throne in a more stable manner. However, Mary and I had a significant conflict in whether or not we should pursue uniting the Scottish and English crowns.
My marriage to Mary, after divorcing my wife Jean Gordon in 1567
Mary always had enough influence from her people (most notably Philip II of Spain and the late Queen Mother, Marie de Guise) to pursue the English crown. Marie de Guise left her a letter before she died in 1560 to inform her of the situation in Scotland and her wish. Mary, just like her mother, wanted the union of the crowns so that a Catholic ruler can govern the both countries.
Although I agree that Mary had as much claim to the English throne as Queen Bess, I thought that she should have more focused on securing the Scottish throne for she had enough people out to get her. I am not a royalty, so it's hard to figure out their mind sometimes. They have a different mindset than us. People often interpret her as greedy, but I guess if you are born and raised as a monarch, you are expected to do whatever it takes to flourish their dynasty, in her case, the Stuarts.
The Battle of Carberry Hill where we were defeated by Moray in June 1567
After our defeat at Carberry Hill and Mary's surrender, I rode to Dunbar, my stronghold, to rally support. But the arrest warrant that Moray had issued on me was enough to scare people whom I sought help. I kept going up north and finally sailed out of Scotland. My final destination was France to speak to King Charles IX regarding our situation in Scotland, for the young French King had always kindly showed his kinship with me. But I landed Norway somehow, and I made an appearance in court where I didn't wish to identify myself as a third husband of Queen of Scots.
Then my past caught up here in my most desperate moments. My old love, Anna Throndsen, who hailed from a powerful family in Norway, showed up in court and revealed my identity, for she was still upset that I broke my promise to marry her. I was confined at an apartment in Copenhagen for a while, but was later transferred to a prison at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark. There I was completely deprived of freedom and I could not even fully stand up because of the shackle they gave me. Having been so active my entire life, I was literally going out of my mind. After 10 years of imprisonment in that harsh environment, on April 15th 1578, my life finally ended.
My remains on display in a Danish Museum. The Scots are now trying to bring me back to Scotland, but we'll see.
As much as I am saddened about my own fate, I feel the same about Mary's ending. However, given the circumstance, we did the best we could. I grew up watching my father fighting the English at the border and was very proud of him, though he sometimes got into troubles. He lost his life during the battle with the English, and I swore to myself that I would fight for my country as bravely as he. I could have spared my life if I had agreed to go along with the other Scottish nobles. But my pride did not allow me to do so and I am glad that I kept going that way. And someday, I hope my sacrifice will pay off and my country will be able to enjoy our freedom that we deserve.