Mary Stuart (1542–1587) was born on this day Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian and became Queen of Scotland when she was six days old.

"We fend for ourselves. Neighbors help neighbors," she once said.

Mary was a lass of 16 when she married Francis, the dauphin of France, as crowds thronged to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. A year later, the duo were crowned king and queen of France. Within a year, Francis died of an ear infection.

"The sweet smile on his face up in a cloud I see," she wrote and returned home wearing black to mourn her husband and the loss of her crown.

With a passion for horse riding and dancing, Queen Mary was known for her sharp wit and the people of Scotland loved her beauty, intelligence, and glamour. She ruled with her head... and heart.

She also ruled amid a time of chaos. As a devout Catholic, Mary did not accept the Protestant reformation or the legitimacy of her cousin Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, as Queen of England.

She said, "He who does not keep faith where it is due, will hardly keep it where it is not due."

The cousins rivalry escalated to an historical tragedy. Amid alleged acts of conspiracy and murder, Mary was accused and arrested for treason.

Awaiting execution in an English prison, she embroidered, "In my End is my Beginning," a celebration of life after death. Purple thistles, called Queen Mary's tears, still grow on the site of where she was beheaded for treason.

Do what you need to do, but be happy doing it.