ABSTRACT
Marie de Guise was not the first dowager queen of Scotland to rise to prominence as a major political force during the minority of a Scottish monarch. This chapter intends to assess how representations of authority were shaped and moulded through Mary's childhood and early adulthood in four prominent ceremonies orchestrated directly or indirectly by Marie de Guise: Mary's coronation in 1543; Marie's return journey from France via the court of Edward VI in 1551; her accession as queen regent of Scotland in 1554; and events in Edinburgh to celebrate Mary's marriage to the Dauphin in July 1558. It also analyses these ceremonies within the context of their political and religious surroundings alongside a consideration of Scottish ceremonial traditions and demonstrates how Marie de Guise used public display and ceremony to rise to the challenges of representing the royal authority of her absent daughter in the complex male-dominated arena into which Mary would soon follow her.
