CHAPTER XVII HOLYROOD PALACE

To those who see it for the first time, Holyrood Palace is distinctly disappointing. All the glamour of its romantic history seems out of place in connection with the somewhat prosaic looking mansion, which bears little outward sign of its eventful life. Nothing is left of the medieval abbey which once stood upon the site, save a ruined portion of the abbey church. And of the Stuart palace, so associated with the fascinations of Scotland's most famous Queen, only a small part is left, though luckily the fire which attacked the palace at the end of the Civil War spared the apartments used by Mary Queen of Scots. Yet, disappointing as [pg 83] a first impression may be, Holyrood Palace, to those who know anything of Scotland's story, can never fail to be interesting.

The palace was never a fortified building, for it was not used as a regular royal residence until the more fierce days of warfare had vanished. Originally an abbey stood at the foot of Arthur's Seat, being founded by David I., in gratitude for his miraculous escape when out hunting. According to monkish tradition, the King was saved by the providential appearance of a cross which interposed between him and the infuriated stag. Therefore the name of the abbey was called the Holyrood.

The Bedchamber of Mary Queen
of Scots, in Holyrood Palace.

Though not a palace until the time of the Stuarts, the early Kings often held councils there, and continued to show royal favour to the monks, who had given the name of Canongate to the burgh which arose outside the city walls. James II., who lies buried in the royal vault in the chapel, was the first to erect any kind of royal apartments in the abbey. His successor, James III., lived there, but it was James IV. who really was the builder of the palace, to which he brought his wife, Margaret Tudor, the English bride who was eventually to bring about the union of the crowns. James V. carried on the brilliance of his father's Court, his two French wives bringing many of the fashions of their own country to grace their new home. His first [pg 84] wife died soon after her arrival, but his second wife, Mary of Guise, lived to rule Scotland through many anxious years of regency, while her infant daughter was being brought up away from her in distant France.

But it was under Mary Queen of Scots that Holyrood became really famous. She made it her constant and favourite residence. After her many years of education in France, and her brief career as the wife of the sickly Francis II., she returned to her native country in August, 1561. John Knox, with the superstition of the age, comments upon the peculiar fogginess and darkness of the weather which marked the young Queen's arrival, saying, "that forewarning gave God unto us, but alas! the most were blind." Bonfires were lit, and great demonstrations of joy were manifested when Mary took up her abode at Holyrood. A band of musicians with much zeal but little skill played outside her bedroom window, being courteously thanked by the Queen; but Brant?me, the French courtier, who had accompanied Queen Mary from France, complains in his memoirs of the terrible noise of these musicians who sang psalms all out of tune; "Quelle musique! et quel repos pour sa nuit" he writes. The very first Sunday after her arrival was marred by a tumult outside the Chapel Royal, where Mass was being performed, a disturbance which was only checked by Lord James Stuart, the Queen's natural brother, who stood in front of the chapel door, and being a zealous Protestant himself, managed to check the Reformers.

The palace witnessed three interviews between the great reformer, John Knox, and his young and beautiful Queen. Using his pulpit as the opportunity for declaiming against the doings of the Queen and that of [pg 85] idolators generally, John Knox was called to task by Mary, who ordered him to appear before her at Holyrood. The first interview took place in the audience-chamber, leading into the Queen's bedchamber. Only Lord James Stuart, afterwards the Regent Moray, was present at the interview, in which Knox answered the Queen's accusations very cleverly. The second interview was held in the Queen's bedroom, the room which remains much as she left it, with the actual bed in which she slept. Off this room were two small rooms, in one of which she was supping with her Italian secretary, David Riccio, when the band of armed men, headed by her husband Darnley, burst into the room. Riccio clung to the Queen's dress, but was torn apart, stabbed, and dragged out to be despatched with many wounds at the top of the staircase.

Queen Mary's son, James VI., spent some time of every year in the palace, and restored it when he was expecting his Danish bride.

Charles I., who had been crowned King of Scotland in the chapel at Holyrood, restored the building, which was wrecked by a mob in 1688, after James VII. (James II. of England) had endeavoured to set up the Roman Catholic worship there. The chapel suffered another disaster about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the architect who had been entrusted with the work of restoring the building put on too heavy a roof, which fell in, destroying all but the bare walls. The royal vault at the east end of the south aisle still remains, containing the bodies of David II., James II., James V., and his Queen, Magdalen of France, and Henry Lord Darnley.

From the time of Charles II., who rebuilt the palace [pg 86] much as we see it now, and James VII., who stayed in the palace when Duke of York, Holyrood became deserted, the later Stuarts and the Georges not visiting their northern capital. But in September, 1745, the palace once more broke into gaiety and splendour, when Prince Charles Edward entered Edinburgh and held high court in the home of his ancestors. His father was proclaimed as King James VIII., ladies flocked to the balls to win a gracious smile from the handsome Prince, and the kingdom seemed almost won. But in the midst of all the apparent brightness, the Prince realized that his cause was not so successful as he had at first hoped; the Highlanders, indeed, were flocking in, but the Lowlanders held aloof. After a few weeks Prince Charlie determined to risk all on the desperate march into England, leaving Edinburgh never to return again.

Since then Holyrood has only once rejoiced in the presence of the monarch, when in 1822 George IV. visited Edinburgh and received an enthusiastic welcome, chiefly through the fervid loyalty of Sir Walter Scott, who devoted all his energies to the success of the first royal visit since the time of Charles I.

For nearly a century the palace has not been used as a royal residence, but is merely occupied once a year when the Lord High Commissioner to the Assembly comes in state to the capital.