From the moment Mary Stuart entered the world, her life was intertwined with the struggle for power. Born in 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Mary lost her father, James V, just a few days later. The infant queen inherited a realm bloodied by internal clan rivalries and the looming threat of annexation by the English. Before his death, upon hearing he had fathered a daughter, King James reportedly uttered the prophetic words: “It cam wi’ a lass and it will gang wi’ a lass” (“It came with a lass, and it will pass with a lass”), foreseeing the crown’s loss through a woman.