num_pages: 272
description: When Mary Stuart was forced off the Scottish throne she fled to England, a move that made her cousin Queen Elizabeth very uneasy. Ardent Catholics plotted to depose Elizabeth and put Mary Stuart on the English throne. She had Mary placed under house arrest with her old friend Bess of Hardwick, then married to her fourth husband, the Earl of Shrewsbury. The charismatic Scotswoman was treated more like a dowager queen than a prisoner and enjoyed the affluent lifestyle until Bess suspected Mary of seducing her husband. For 16 years Bess was forced to accommodate Mary and her entourage at enormous cost to both her finances and her marriage. This book delves deep into the relationship of these three women with their insurmountable differences, the way they tried to accommodate them and the lasting legacy this has left.
language: English
title: Four Queens and a Countess: Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, Mary I, Lady Jane Grey and Bess of Hardwick: The Struggle for the Crown
publisher: Amberley Publishing