A Modern Queen of Scots

We like historical films to be factually accurate, but we also like them to reflect our sensibilities.

Woke: Mary Queen of Scots, early 17th century. © Falkland Palace, Fife/Bridgeman Images.Even before Josie Rourke’s new film, Mary Queen of Scots, came out it had caused historical furore. Estelle Paranque criticised it for stressing the friendship between Elizabeth I and Mary, for the latter’s Scottish accent and for including a meeting between the two queens that never took place (such meetings have proved irresistible to the likes of Schiller and Donizetti). When the film premiered, I and other 16th-century historians were asked to comment in the press on the details of its historical authenticity or otherwise.

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