Mary Queen of Scots(2018)

The situation progressively deteriorates for Mary (Saoirse Ronan) after her Council has Darnley (Jack Bowden) killed. She is forced to separate from Baby James -who stays under the care of her half-brother, the Earl of Moray (James McArdle)- and go into hiding. Soon after, her closest trusted advisor, the Earl of Bothwell (Martin Compston) forcefully coaxes her to marry him, “for her own good”, which she reluctantly does. Meanwhile, John Knox (David Tennant), whom Mary had banished from her Court earlier in the film and has been rallying an uprising against her since, is openly preaching that Mary is a murderous “harlot” (whore), unworthy of the Crown. This moves the entire Council, led by Moray to force her to abdicate and flee to England, which she does.

A secret meeting between Mary and Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) takes place, in which Mary begs Elizabeth to help her back into the throne but, instead, Elizabeth offers to safely harbour her in exchange for “not aiding her enemies”. The meeting quickly sours up as it becomes evident that Elizabeth deeply resents Mary for her being everything she could never be, and Mary, being a rightful heir to both the English and Scottish thrones, would always see Elizabeth as an inferior who was now just taking advantage of Mary’s own predicament.

Elizabeth decides to place Mary under a house-arrest-like situation. Time passes and Elizabeth -who, by this point, has consolidated herself as the historically-known “Virgin Queen”- receives overwhelming evidence of what is known as “The Babbington Plot”, which looked to have her killed and replaced by Mary. In voice-over, we hear Elizabeth extend a letter to Mary, explaining her the unavoidable decision of having her executed, while we see her signing the corresponding Edict amidst her Privy Council.

While Mary is taken to the scaffold, we see Elizabeth weep for her cousin and Mary shows she is wearing a red dress -thus proclaiming herself a martyr-. Before she is beheaded, she wishes her son -shown as an adult, himself on the throne- well and that he may bring peace upon the unified land.

Title cards inform that the Mary’s role on the Babbington Plot is still disputed and, after Elizabeth’s death, James went on to become the King of the unified England and Scotland.