Rare letters signed by Mary Queen of Scots to go under the hammer at Edinburgh auction

Rare letters signed by Mary Queen of Scots are to go under the hammer in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

The letters, which could fetch between £10,000 and £15,000, were part of appeals made by the Queen to a Highland family urging them to keep the peace in and around Inverness, during a period where rival families and clans were vying for control of land across Scotland.

Written almost 500 years ago, the documents are part of a collection of papers from Kilravock Castle, near Croy, that are being sold by auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull.

Five letters in the auction are signed by Mary Queen of Scots, who visited the castle in 1562 when, as a 20-year-old, the Queen was received by Hugh Rose, the tenth Laird of Kilravock and an influential figure in the area, as she tried to garner support during her first trip north.

The letters, jointly signed by Mary’s husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, are dated between September and October 1565, and came shortly before Darnley conspired with Protestant lords to murder his wife’s trusted secretary, before he was murdered the following year.

It was the scandal around his murder that eventually led to Mary’s arrest and eventual forced abdication in favour of infant son James VI.

The six letters he wrote which feature in the auction demonstrate his relationship with the Roses of Kilravock.

One of them, valued at between £2,000 and £3,000, excuses Hugh Rose from travelling to court and grant his eldest son’s attendance instead and was signed by the young king when he was only 13.

In another, dated August 24, 1603, he signs a special warrant to the Privy Council, liberating the 11th Baron of Kilravock and his son from prison in Edinburgh where they had been interred for failing to apprehend rebel kinsmen.

Four documents signed by James V are also in the auction, including one just months before his death.

Cathy Tait, head of books and manuscripts at Lyon & Turnbull said: “This in an unprecedented sale of historical of Scottish historical manuscripts.

“As an auctioneer you tend to come across a letter signed by Mary Queen of Scots every once in a while.

“To find five of her letters in the same collection, alongside others by members of her family, makes this a truly unique and amazing find.

“This series of documents and manuscripts, penned during a tumultuous time in Scottish and English history, gives a fascinating insight into both ordinary, and extraordinary, events during the times in which the writers lived.

“As you can imagine I’m really looking forward to being the rostrum for this particular auction – we expect it will generate a great deal of interest.”