Scottish experts have handed down their judgment on a crime that pass almost 450 years ago . Mary , Queen of Scotshas beenexonerated of any involvementin her husband ’s slaying in 1567 by a group of investigators convened by the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
After the death of her first hubby , King Francis II of France , Mary returned to Scotland and married her cousin , the earl of Darnley . Lord Darnley later died in the backwash of a mysterious explosion , and Mary has always been suspected in the game — not least because she married one of the chief suspects , James Hepburn , just three months after .
Darnley was not your mediocre innocent dupe . He was a covetous , violent man , who had killed Mary ’s secretary , David Rizzio , the yr before . In front of the pregnant queen , Darnley dig Rizzio 56 times because he believe Rizzio and Mary werehaving an social function . When Darnley himself was found dead in his nightshirt , it made sensation that the offense was retribution of some sort for Rizzio ’s murder .
A 1567 drafting of the crime scene . Image Credit : National Archives viaWikipedia// Public world
modernistic expert try out drawing of the localization of the murder , Kirk o’Field in Edinburgh , and a refreshment image of the criminal offense scene found on original cartoon . They ascertain that Darnley ’s consistency , along with his gallant ’s , had been tangle into the orchard after a cryptical explosion struck his house . Their injury did n’t indicate that they had died in the burst , though — they seemed to have been strangle or suffocated .
The investigator , led by forensic anthropologist Sue Black of theUniversity of Dundee , conclude that the murder was n’t arranged by Mary to make room for a Modern romantic alliance . Instead , they believe the killing was carry out by Darnley ’s own relatives , who were tempestuous about his involvement in Rizzio ’s execution and needed to keep the potent , out - of - ascendency baronial in check .
[ h / t : Scottish Legal News ]
