Mary Seton

Mary Seton was one of four girls of noble Scottish families chosen as childhood attendants to Mary, Queen of Scots. The group travelled with the young queen to France in 1548 and became known collectively as the Four Marys. Seton returned to Scotland with her mistress in 1561 and remained in close attendance through the political and religious crises of the queen’s personal reign.

Unlike the other Marys, Seton did not marry. She accompanied the queen after the collapse of her rule and joined her during captivity in England, remaining for many years as servant, companion and skilled hairdresser. Poor health eventually led her to retire to the convent of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames at Reims, where she died in 1615. Her long service makes her an important witness to the private life and emotional world of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Sarah Gristwood’s The Queen’s Mary places Mary Seton among the four childhood companions whose lives become inseparable from that of Mary, Queen of Scots. Seton follows the queen from France back to a divided Scotland and remains loyal through the marriages, rebellion and abdication that destroy Mary’s rule. Her continued service during English captivity turns courtly companionship into a long test of endurance, allowing the novel to explore the costs borne by a woman whose identity has been shaped almost entirely by service to another.