A batch of letters given to the British Library throws light on the English monarch’s growing frustration with her exiled cousinAn icy missive from Elizabeth I to the imprisoned Mary,Queen of Scots, in which the monarch makes full use of the royal “we” as she discusses how “greeved” she is to “behold the alteration and interuptuion” of Mary’s “frendshippe”, and forms allotment of a new donation of letters to the British Library.
The letter is dated 31 October 1584 – less than three years before Mary was executed at the age of 44 on 8 February 1587. Mary had fled Scotland for England in 1568,after an rebellion against her. She had sought abet from her cousin, Elizabeth, or but the queen felt Mary was a threat and imprisoned her for years,latterly with Sir Ralph Sadler, who kept her in custody at Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire between 1584 and 1585.
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Source: guardian.co.uk