I felt that Mary was there pulling at my sleeve willing me to appreciate the artistry
wanting me to understand the dazzle of the material world that shaped her. At her execution
Mary Queen of Scots wore red. Widely known as the colour of strength and passion it was in
fact worn by Mary as the Catholic symbol of martyrdom. In sixteenth-century Europe women's
voices were suppressed and silenced. Even for a queen like Mary her prime duty was to bear
sons. In an age when textiles expressed power Mary exploited them to emphasise her female
agency. From her lavishly embroidered gowns as the prospective wife of the French Dauphin to
the fashion dolls she used to encourage a Marian style at the Scottish court and the subversive
messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters Mary used textiles to advance her
political agenda affirm her royal lineage and tell her own story. In this eloquent cultural
biography Clare Hunter exquisitely blends history politics and memoir to tell the story of a
queen in her own voice.
