10 June 2020 12:02 am
hand-painted 16th century prayer book is tipped to fetch up to £350,000 at auction
This is a fleetingly rare opportunity to acquire a lavishly illustrated royal prayerbook that was owned and affectionately inscribed by one of the most intriguing figures in Scottish and European history
Notably, it also includes a short verse written by Mary in French to her great-aunt, which is translated as: 'Since I want them to complain in your prayers and devout prayers, I ask you first that you know what share in my affections'.
She signed it alongside her anagrammatic motto, ‘Va Tu Meriteras’, and her monogram, 'M', a variation based on the initial M of Mary and phonetic initial of Francis, whom she married in 1558.
On Francis II's death in 1560, Mary left France, where she had spent much of her life until that point, and returned to Scotland. In 1565 she married her half-cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and in June 1566 they had a son, James.
Eugenio Donadoni, Christie's Specialist in Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts said: 'This is a fleetingly rare opportunity to acquire a lavishly illustrated royal prayerbook that was owned and affectionately inscribed by one of the most intriguing figures in Scottish and European history: Mary Stuart, at a time when the Queen of Scots had already become Queen of France. Daily Mail