The return to Scotland of the widowed…

The return to Scotland of the widowed Mary, who lands at Leith on August 19, 1561, leads to a famous series of face-to-face confrontations between the young queen and the outspoken Knox.

Immediately taking the advice of the moderates—her half-brother Lord Abernethy and Sir William Maitland of Lethington, who she has named secretary of state—Mary recognizes the Reformed (Presbyterian) church and allows it a modest endowment but not full establishment.

The Protestant reformers, including Knox, are appalled because she has Mass in her own chapel, and the Roman Catholics are concerned about her lack of zeal for their cause.

Mary attempts to placate the Protestants and befriend England’s Queen Elizabeth, her cousin.

At the same time, in order to prod Elizabeth into naming Mary as her successor, Maitland approves of negotiations seemingly intended to result in Mary's marriage to Don Carlos of Spain, the sickly, mentally disturbed teenage son of Habsburg monarch Philip II of Spain.

This would be an alliance that Elizabeth cannot risk.