|
She was plump and pretty and inclined to
daydreaming. She was called Beaton because it rhymed with Seton. The Beatons of Fife were
one of the most powerful clans in Scotland in the 16th century. There were may branches of
the Beaton family. It seems to have been a prolific one. The difference branches sometimes
spelled their names differently such as Beaton, Betoun or Bethune. Mary's branch of the
Beatons were those of Creich. They were not of noble blood but held high offices, one a
Lord
High Treasurer to Jams IV, her father and grandfather both keepers of Falkland Palace and
masters of the royal household. Her mother was another of Mary of Guise's
ladies-in-waiting. Mary Beaton's father had many sisters and several were prominent among
the women of their time. Elizabeth was a mistress of James V who bore him a child (Jean,
Countess of Argyll). The eldest sister, Janet, was thought to be a lover of the Earl of
Bothwell and gossip implicated her with him in the murder of Darnley. Mary Beaton, like
Fleming, attracted the attentions of an older man, Thomas Randolph, Queen Elizabeth's
ambassador. He wanted Mary Beaton to spy on her mistress for him. She turned him down and
eventually married Alexander Ogilvie a young Scotsman.
Thanks
to Linda
Bruce Caron for this story
|
