From the rhyme sung by our children to the bloodline of English royalty, no one can deny Mary, Queen of Scots has unbeknown to us permanently taken root in the English people. Born in the aftermath of Henry VIII's "Great Matter" to a king who would have preferred a son, never knowing his daughter would be the matriarch of a powerful dynasty. In 14 December 1542 with only 6 days of age she was the anointed queen of Scotland, for a year the 17 year old was also the queen of France. She lived with regal dignity, chivalry and pride. However, she was unable to prevent her downfall due to the fact that she upheld medieval values in an increasingly Machiavellian world, but above all, that unlike Elizabeth I who was first a monarch, Mary Stuart nee Bruce was first a woman