With the announcement that the last letter of Mary, Queen of Scots is to go on display at Perth Museum next year, Herald columnist Rosemary Goring reflects on what it reveals about the tragic queen.

The announcement that the last letter of Mary, Queen of Scots is to be exhibited next year in Perth Museum has set history enthusiasts like me counting down the days. This remarkable document, which is held in the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, last went on public display more than eight years ago. On that occasion – 8 February, 2017, the 430th anniversary of Mary’s execution – a queue formed outside the library on George IV Bridge. No wonder: there was only a nine-hour window in which to view this astonishing relic, written in the last hours of our most charismatic and controversial monarch.

The loan of the letter to Perth Museum, from 23 January to 26 April, is described by the National Library as “a once in a generation opportunity”. It rarely sees the light of day, so if you have plans, say, to spend the spring in Australia, I suggest you postpone them. Who knows when we’ll have another chance to get close to such a telling – and moving - artefact from our past.

Many possessions associated with Mary - jewellery, religious objects, portraits - give an idea of what she was like. More than any other item, however, a letter offers direct insight into its author’s........

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