This portrait would most likely have been commissioned by the French royal family from their court artist to commemorate the royal marriage. The jewel-like colours and contrasts of blue background and pink dress emphasise the Scots Queen's renowned beauty, with sparkling hazel eyes and auburn hair.
Mary was a striking woman who knew how to present an eye-catching and regal appearance. Tall, beautiful and graceful, with auburn hair and a fine, pale complexion, even one of her archenemies, the Protestant Reformer John Knox, described her features as “pleasing”.
Henry VIII doted on his daughter and boasted to the Venetian ambassador Sebastian Giustiniani that Mary never cried. Mary had a fair complexion with pale blue eyes and red or reddish-golden hair, traits very similar to those of her parents. She was ruddy-cheeked, a trait she inherited from her father.
Mary grew up to be a tall, striking young woman; she was almost six feet tall, at a time when women were much smaller than today. She had flame red hair and porcelain white skin, while her smooth, slim white hands were said to be her most distinctive feature.
She is of spare and delicate frame, quite unlike her father, who was tall and stout; nor does she resemble her mother, who, if not tall, was nevertheless bulky. Her face is well formed, as shown by her features and lineaments, and as seen by her portraits.
Mary's years in prison had seriously damaged her health and beauty. A lock of her hair can still be seen at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. The hair, probably discoloured by the passing of years, is now strawberry blonde although she had red hair during her lifetime. Mary was the first woman to practice golf in Scotland.
She was a Semitic woman, likely dark-skinned, in a hot Mediterranean environment. Custom would have demanded that she be veiled, and Crossan believes she would have worn simple clothes, made of rough cloth in drab colors.
This portrait would most likely have been commissioned by the French royal family from their court artist to commemorate the royal marriage. The jewel-like colours and contrasts of blue background and pink dress emphasise the Scots Queen's renowned beauty, with sparkling hazel eyes and auburn hair.
In places like Scotland where the climate is cold and gray, this ability gives them a genetic advantage compared to those with other hair colors. Hundreds of years ago during the days of the Vikings, having red hair was actually an evolutionary edge for surviving long, cold winters.
Francis confronted Mary to why she left and she told him of Nostradamus' prophecy. He found it to be superstition. She eventually ruined her relationship with Francis once she made Henry change the line of succession; she would marry Bash instead. Francis heartbroken and betrayed by Mary, leaves the French Court.
Contrary to what many people assume, redheads did not originate in Scandinavia, Scotland or Ireland, but in central Asia. Their coloring is due to a mutation in the MC1R gene that fails to produce sun-protective, skin-darkening eumelanin and instead causes pale skin, freckles and red hair.
She was 5'11" in height when the average woman was around 4'11", so she was the equivalent of a woman 6'5" by modern standards and probably one of the tallest women in Europe.
Mary's Catholicism was on display the morning of her execution. She was found praying in her cell, and she prayed in Latin and English before the execution. Finally, as legend has it, her handmaids removed her black dress to reveal a red gown, the color of martyrdom in the Catholic Church.
Although a natural redhead, for most of her life, Elizabeth wore wigs. Displaying the red hair inherited from her father gave the lie to all those rumours of illegitimacy that had plagued her girlhood.
Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart Lord Darnley
Mary, aged 22, described her 19-year-old groom as 'the lustiest and best proportioned long man that she had seen' but her infatuation was to be her downfall, and her initial happiness didn't last.
Her parents shared a common ancestor in Robert II, King of Scots. Through her father King George VI she was directly descended from James VI of Scotland.
The rarest natural hair colour is red, which makes up only one to two percent of the global population. You commonly see these hair colours in western and northern areas of Europe, especially Scotland and Ireland. However, natural redheads may not exist for much longer.
The highest concentration of people with green eyes is found in Ireland, Scotland, and northern Europe. In fact, in Ireland and Scotland, more than three-fourths of the population has blue or green eyes – 86 percent! Many factors go into having green eyes.
Ireland has the highest per capita percentage of redheads in the world -- anywhere from 10 to 30 percent, according to Eupedia, a website that explores European genetics and ancestry. They are almost equally prevalent in Scotland and other pockets of Celtic pride.
Anne Boleyn was rather tall of stature, with black hair and an oval face of sallow complexion, as if troubled with jaundice. She had a projecting tooth under the upper lip, and on her right hand, six fingers.
Queen Consort Camilla has spoken movingly of Queen Elizabeth II's “wonderful blue eyes” and her ability to carve a role in a “male-dominated world” when she came to the throne.
King Henry VIII of Great Britain, as well as his daughter Elizabeth I, had red hair. Traditionally, the Biblical King David and Mary Magdalene are depicted as having red hair. People with red hair have a higher pain threshold.
The saint depicted here is Mary Magdalene, identifiable by the ointment jar she holds and by her robes of bright scarlet, a colour traditionally associated with her.
Mary is almost always decked out in blue, while Jesus typically wears red. Throughout history, blue has been considered a sacred and valuable hue. It's not a naturally occurring pigment, and is thus particularly mystical and rare.
Her father's parents were Italian emigrants from Pacentro while her mother was of French-Canadian descent. Tony Ciccone worked as an optics engineer for Chrysler and General Dynamics on military projects. Since Madonna had the same name as her mother, family members called her "Little Nonnie".