This book was well written, definitely well-researched and contained a lot of extracts from various letters & documents, and provided helpful family trees as well as some interesting images I had never seen before, mainly of Henry. If you enjoy reading about Mary and want to educate yourself further on her relationship with her second husband, as well as giving yourself more of an understanding of her downfall, I highly recommend this book. It definitely cleared some things up for me and gave me a lot of new information to think about in relation to Mary.

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Life and Tea Blog

Full review-
A Writer's Blog

A Writer's Blog, July 2019

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Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September 2018 – reviewed by Dean Jobb

Article: 'A new view of Mary Queen of Scots' as featured by

Chichester Observer (online), 14th August 2018 – words by Phil Hewitt

★★★★★ This is a brilliant book. I knew the story of Mary Queen of Scots; I knew the story of Darnley; of the succession struggles in both Scotland and England; yet I found this book utterly enthralling, and riveting. It reads like a pacey thriller, and is hugely absorbing in interest. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and a real find; this book is definitely recommended.

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Amazon, Keen Reader

Robert Stedall’s scholarly engagingly-narrated book on Lord Darnley, talented,controversial, flawed husband (briefly) of Mary Queen of Scots and father of James VI of Scotland and James I of England shines a light on a human drama and power struggle taking place on a much bigger geopolitical stage at a time of far-reaching change that still echoes today.

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Amazon, J B Wybrew

★★★★★ An indispensable book for anyone who is interested in Mary Queen of Scots!

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Amazon, Bettina Pecha

This is an absorbing historical murder mystery and Stedall, an author clearly immersed in his subject, has produced a well written, exhaustively researched account that is bound to become a classic.

Ripperologist, December 2017 – January 2018 – reviewed by Paul Begg

This is a very thick book filled with presumably years of research on a complex subject of power and status within royalty. It talks of aggressive tactics, bullying and taking children hostage to ensure the parents were loyal. These were not friendly people and the book certainly gives a vision of how appalling some of the personalities behaved.

With incredibly detailed genealogy and research undertaken by Stedall, to the point of becoming obsessive over evidence, it appears no detail, however trivial or intricate, has been ignored in the events surrounding the death of Lord Darnley.

For anyone even slightly interested in Royal history and all its celebrations and cover-ups, this book will be an added delight upon your bookshelf. A remarkable read and encased inside a binding well worth the asking price of £25.

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SJ Banham, loveofbooks.co.uk

It's packed with information...

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GoodReads, Kristin Davison

★★★★★ An indispensable book for anyone who is interested in Mary Queen of Scots.

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Amazon - Bettina Pecha

A well researched book with lots of details, like maps, drawings, genealogical tables and pictures . This was the first book about Mary Queen of Scots I have read ( I should absolutely read more about Mary , Queen of Scots) . Sometimes it was difficult to get through , but it was obvious how much research had gone into the book. I enjoyed the analysed evidence on the murder of Lord Darnley and how the murder affected Mary and led ultimately to her downfall. Learned a lot of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stewart, a person with a bad personality, arrogant, rude, violent, not so well liked ( no wonder).
Mary Queen of Scots Mary Queen of Scots’ Downfall: The Life and Murder of Henry, Lord Darnley was a very informative read.
The New Royalty World recommends this book, especially for people who are interested in Scottish history.

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The New Royalty World

As reviewed and featured on Lil's Vintage World, YouTube Vlog!

Lil's Vintage World, YouTube

The book is beautifully written, with a copious bibliography of historical sources and arguments by modern historians.

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Britain Express, David Ross

★★★★ I have read a lot about Mary, Queen of Scots, but I did not know much about her second husband, Henry Stewart. This book gave me more details about Henry Stewart and his personality. He was a very arrogant individual. While he was not likeable, he still made an important impact on Mary, Queen of Scots life. The book is very well written, engaging, and comprehensible to the reader. I recommend this biography.

Lauralee, Amazon

As featured on the 'Scottish Bookshelf'

The Scots magazine, February 2018