Mary Queen of Scots

Of all the ‘custodians’ she had had over the years during her imprisonment, none angered Mary Queen of Scots as much as her last, Sir Amias Paulet (alternative spellings exist). A fierce Puritan who, as Governor of Jersey, witnessed the influx of Huguenots from France and heard of the gruesome tales they told of persecution, he was an unforgiving staunch anti-Catholic. He replaced the more lenient and congenial Sir Ralph Sadler, who had given Mary more liberties.

Though on the orders of Elizabeth I, it was Sir Amias who personally curbed some of these liberties and luxuries Mary had been allowed previously. She wrote often to Elizabeth directly and to her advisors, complaining of the harsh treatment and disdain he showed for her.

However, when Elizabeth instructed Walsingham to write in his own name to bid Sir Amias to enact the Bond of Association and end Mary’s life, he refused. Horrified, he wrote back that he would not "make so great a shipwreck of my conscience, or leave so great a blot to my poor posterity, as shed blood without law or warrant."

Despite the bitterness between them, it was to Sir Amias that she entrusted some of her last requests; he even fought, without success, to get approval for the ones denied. And it was his hand she took, when offered, to help her up the scaffold when she faltered for a moment.

After her death, he remarked that she had faced her execution with grace, poise, and bravery.

Portraits of Mary Queen of Scots, by François Clouet, c.1560-61 and Sir Amias Paulet, attributed to Nicholas Hilliard, c.1576–78

Source:

https://archive.org/details/letterbooksofsir00poulrich