The Miserable Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots February 8, 1587 — What was meant to be swift royal justice became one of history's most horrifically botched executions. After 19 years of imprisonment by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was finally sentenced to death for treason. But even in her final moments, dignity would be stripped away by shocking incompetence. Mary walked to the scaffold at Fotheringhay Castle with the grace of a true queen, wearing crimson silk b