Holyrood Palace; Mary, Queen of Scots; the Blood of David Rizzio and Other Exhibits
Posted in Exhibitions at 12:00 on 12 February 2022
I realised when I was composing this that I hadn’t posted any pictures of Holyrood Palace from the grounds surounding it other than from the front courtyard, so here are two.
Holyrood Palace from Grounds. Ruins of Holyrood Abbey to right:-
East facade:-
One of the most gruesome events that took place in Holyrood Palace was the murder of David Rizzio.
Rizzio was a favourite of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was thought by some to be too close to, and too much of an influence on, her.
A plot was hatched to kill him and he was duly murdered in front of the Queen.
One of the exhibits in the Palace is Rizzio’s “bloodstain”:-
I remember from my childhood visit to the Palace the story being told that there used to be what was said to be the remains of his clotted blood on the floor but that visitors would chip away at it on the sly to get a piece for themselves to take away. The curators got so fed up with replacing the ‘clot’ that they resorted instead to this red wash on the wooden flooring to mark the spot.
Towards the end of the Palace tour there is a room which contains royal memorabilia.
A display of British decorations (OBEs, CBEs etc):-
The regalia of the order of the Thistle:-
One of Queen Victoria’s dresses. She was not a big woman:-
Tags: David Rizzio, Holyrood Abbey, Holyrood Palace, Mary Queen of Scots, Order of the Thistle, Queen Victoria
Chris Walpole
10 January 2023 at 11:12
Hi Jack
I’m collecting memories of the Queen from locals in the village of Belstone where I live, on the edge of Dartmoor. I have this story from one of them; ‘it was in the summer of 1969 when my husband David and I were invited to a reception at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh to meet the Queen – David was the Security Office for NATO in Northern Ireland at the time. I was four months pregnant. The reception didn’t start until 9pm. We all assembled to meet the Queen but there was a long wait. Now, I knew that David Rizzio, private secretary to Mary Queen of Scots had been murdered here in 1566, stabbed 57 times and thrown down the stairs, leaving blood stains on the floorboards which could still be seen. I started to wander around looking down for signs of the blood. After a while I looked up to see the Queen, dressed all in white, right next to me. ‘Are you looking for something?’ she asked. I was so surprised and probably tongue-tied that I can’t remember what happened next.’
These words are going to be put on the village website and I thought it would be good to illustrate the story with a photo of the ‘bloodstain’. Would you give permission for me to use your photo, with credit of course, on the website? Many thanks. Chris
jackdeighton
10 January 2023 at 19:54
Chris,
As long as it’s credited, no problem. Feel free.
Thanks for looking in to my blog.