Page "James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell" Paragraph 10

On Wednesday 24 April, while Mary was on the road from Linlithgow Palace to Edinburgh, Bothwell suddenly appeared with 800 men.

He assured her that danger awaited her in Edinburgh, and told her that he proposed to take her to his castle at Dunbar, out of harm's way.

She agreed to accompany him and arrived at Dunbar at midnight.

There Mary was taken prisoner by Bothwell and allegedly raped by him to secure marriage to her and the crown ( though whether she was his accomplice or his unwilling victim remains a controversial issue ).

On 12 May the Queen created him Duke of Orkney, and he married Mary in the Great Hall at Holyrood on 15 May 1567, according to Protestant rites officiated by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney.

Mary gave her new husband a fur lined night-gown.

Within three days, Sir William Drury wrote to London that although the manner of things appeared to be forcible, it was known to be otherwise.