The life and legacy of Mary, Queen of Scots, remains intriguing more than 400 years after her passing. Her political scheming and personal hardships were colorful enough to inspire several films, including 2018's Mary Queen of Scots, but the fictionalized version can't compete with the actual events leading to her execution. After becoming Queen of Scotland when she was just days old, Mary was married into the French royal family. Widowed as a teenager and a stranger to her homeland, Mary seized her birthright and actively ruled Scotland from the early 1560s until she was deposed in 1567. Mary's love life was fodder for Protestant naysayers and political rivals alike, and her relationship with her cousin and fellow female monarch, Elizabeth I, was fraught with tension.