Complex sentence: The character Lord Gordon is fictitious although partly based on Lord Huntly, the real Cardinal Beaton was already dead before the opera's action begins in 1561, and the real Earl of Moray was murdered two years later than depicted in the opera.
Split into simpler sentences: The character Lord Gordon is fictitious although partly based on Lord Huntly. The real Earl of Moray was murdered two years later than depicted in the opera.