Mary of Guise

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Mary of Guise (French: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560. The eldest of the twelve children born to Claude, Duke of Guise, and Antoinette of Bourbon, in 1534 Mary was married to Louis II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, the Grand Chamberlain of France. The marriage was arranged by King Francis I of France, but proved shortlived. The Duke of Longueville died in 1537, and the widower kings of England and Scotland, Henry VIII and James V, both sought the Duchess of Longueville's hand. After much persuasion...

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