Archbishop of Canterbury Library buys Queen’s death warrant

A copy of the warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots has been saved for the nation after it was acquired by the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury, it has been announced.

The Catholic Queen was executed on February 8 1587, after great agonising by her Protestant cousin Elizabeth I, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, in one of the most dramatic episodes in British history.