History of the Stewarts | Famous Stewarts
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Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley - Married Queen Mary, his cousin
Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany (7 December 1545 – 10 February 1567), styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland from 1565 until his murder at Kirk o´ Field in 1567. Many contemporary sources describing his life and death refer to him as Lord Darnley, his title as heir apparent to the Earldom of Lennox.
He was the second but eldest surviving son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas. Darnley´s maternal grandparents were Archibald Douglas, sixth Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, and widow of James IV, king of Scots. It is the common belief that Henry Stewart was born on 7 December, but this is disputed. He was a first cousin to and the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was the father of her son James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I of England as James I of England
Darnley was born in 1545, at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Through his parents he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII.
Darnley´s father, Matthew Earl of Lennox, had been declared guilty of treason in Scotland for his part in the war of the Rough Wooing, siding with the English as an opponent of Mary of Guise and Regent Arran, and his Scottish estates were forfeited in 1545. Lennox lived in exile in England for 22 years, returning to Scotland in 1564. Darnley´s mother, Margaret Douglas had left Scotland in 1528
He was the second but eldest surviving son of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, and his wife, Lady Margaret Douglas. Darnley´s maternal grandparents were Archibald Douglas, sixth Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, and widow of James IV, king of Scots. It is the common belief that Henry Stewart was born on 7 December, but this is disputed. He was a first cousin to and the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was the father of her son James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I of England as James I of England
Darnley was born in 1545, at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Through his parents he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII.
Darnley´s father, Matthew Earl of Lennox, had been declared guilty of treason in Scotland for his part in the war of the Rough Wooing, siding with the English as an opponent of Mary of Guise and Regent Arran, and his Scottish estates were forfeited in 1545. Lennox lived in exile in England for 22 years, returning to Scotland in 1564. Darnley´s mother, Margaret Douglas had left Scotland in 1528
Reference: Scottish National Portrait Gallery