At Scottish king James V's 1542 death, his infant heiress Mary was coveted as a bride by Henry VIII to avoid his Anglican England being invaded by Catholic enemies from the north. Despite a treaty signed by nobles and an English invasion, her guardians got her exiled to France to the glorious Loire chateaus court. There she is betrothed to King Henri's son, dauphin François - fourth in line for the English throne, (to hope for a Franco-British Catholic empire), but Henry's illegitimate daughter Elisabeth succeeds. Francois II's fatal ear infection left Mary a widowed dowager. Scotland turns Puritan protestant and therefore against Catholic Mary, who yet returns and charms her way into the nobles' favor by making her faith private. She weds English playboy Henry Darnley, who gives her an heir but is denied royal power and murdered, although by whom is unclear. After her second marriage the nobles force Mary to abdicate, Elisabeth imprisons her after an escape. Infant James is raised by Knoxite Buchanan, who doesn't spare his behind to instill protestantism and people's rights. After incarceration for being influenced by Catholic 'French' cousin Esme Stuart, James escapes, raises an army and seizes absolute power. James reigns as a skillful Machiavellian, survives the barren Virgin Queen and expects to subdue Westminster parliament, but only starts another century of Anglo-Scottish clashing, now within a semi-united Britain.