Francis II of France: Who was Queen Mary’s first husband?

Francis II reigned as King of France from 1559 until 1560. From 1558 until he died in 1560, he was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots.

After the untimely death of his father, Henry II, in 1559, he ascended to the throne of France at the age of 15. The earliest stirrings of the French Wars of Religion dominated his brief rule.

His mother, Catherine de Medici, left the reins of government to his wife Mary’s relatives from the House of Guise, fervent champions of the Catholic cause, even though the royal age of the majority was 14. However, they were unable to assist Catholics in Scotland against the advancing Scottish Reformation, and the Auld Alliance was disbanded.

Francis was succeeded in turn by two of his brothers, both of whom were unable to alleviate tensions between Protestants and Catholics.

Francis and Mary married on April 24, 1558, in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral. It was a relationship that may have given future French kings the throne of Scotland as well as a claim to the English throne through Mary’s great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England.

The marriage had no children and may never have been consummated due to Francis’s sickness or undescended testicles.