Hot on the trail of a Royal assailant

WITH its irresistible mix of deception, betrayal, intrigue and blue blood, the strangulation of Lord Darnley has remained one of Scotland’s most enduring murder mysteries.

But now fresh light has been cast on the blood-soaked drama that has baffled historians for 450 years - thanks to a fire in Edinburgh’s Old Town.

The body of Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband, was found in the early hours of 10 February, 1567, after an explosion at his Kirk o’Field house in the Cowgate area of the city. He was discovered suffocated next to his valet in a nearby garden.

Mary married James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell - who was implicated in the murder of Darnley - three months later.

Historians have clashed over the extent of Mary’s complicity in Darnley’s murder. Now, according to one expert, accounts of the crime may have to be rewritten because of research done in the aftermath of the fire in Edinburgh’s Old Town last year.

The buildings involved were so badly damaged that some had to be demolished. This opened up to scrutiny an area that had not been exposed for hundreds of years.

Archaeologists and a genealogist have examined the site and compared it with archives. Investigations are continuing, but early results suggest that histories of Darnley’s murder may need to be revised, along with other records.

The genealogist Rob Maxtone Graham believes there is a need for a review of previous work, including an examination of exactly where Darnley may have been killed. Mr Maxtone Graham said he believed there was "a big unstitching job" to be undertaken on a trail of evidence going back over five centuries. But he conceded that other experts may need to be convinced.

The genealogist said he had been trying to identify who had been residing in the Cowgate about 500 years ago.

"We had come up with an incredible number of people who were living there," he said. "They were buying and selling the land, and there was a fair amount of philandering. At the last minute, it occurred to me that one of the clerics’ houses could well have been the site of Darnley’s murder.

"I have come up with evidence that the house where Darnley was blown up may be within the block between Edinburgh University and the Cowgate; the block affected by the fire. Darnley’s house abuts the Flodden Wall, but my early findings put it in a different place to that previously stated.