The 'Darnley' Ring

The inscription on the back of the bezel of this ring refers to Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stewart, Earl of Darnley. Mary was the heir of James V of Scotland and the cousin and putative heir of Elizabeth I of England. She was also the widow of the French King François II. She married Henry Stewart in 1565, for a brief unhappy period which culminated with his murder in 1566. As a result of conflict with the Scottish nobles, she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son James and fled to England to seek the protection of her cousin. However, she became the focus of Catholic plots against Elizabeth I and as a result was imprisoned for nineteen years and finally executed at Fotheringhay Castle.

This gold signet ring was said to have been found amongst the ruins of Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire in 1820. It was exhibited to the Archaeological Institute, Salisbury in 1849, and had been acquired by the ring collector and aesthete Edmund Waterton by 1857. Waterton formed one of the most important ring collections of the 19th century but fell into financial difficulties in the 1870s and his collection was purchased by the Museum in 1871. When the ring was first published and became widely known, it was said to have been the wedding ring of Mary Queen of Scots and Henry, Lord Darnley. The bezel of the ring is engraved with the initials H and M with a true lover's knot whilst the back of the bezel shows a coat of arms engraved with lion rampant and a crown and the inscription Henry L. Darnley, 1565.

The authenticity of the ring's associations was widely accepted until the publication of the Jewellery Gallery Summary Catalogue (V&A, 1982) in which Shirley Bury suggested that the crude nature of the inscription and style of lettering might indicate that it was added at a later date. Mary had long been celebrated as a tragic heroine in Scotland, but interest became more widespread in the early 19th century with the publication of Sir Walter Scott's 'Waverley' novels and the state visit by George IV in 1822.