Casket Letters - Conference at York, Westminster, and Hampton Court

Conference At York, Westminster, and Hampton Court

In August 1567, the Earl of Moray intimated to Guzman de Silva, Spanish ambassador to England, that he had in his possession a letter in Queen Mary's own handwriting that would implicate her in the murder of Lord Darnley. Over a year later, in October 1568, Moray finally produced the Casket letters at a conference in York, headed by Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk.

The Earl of Moray again showed the casket letters at Westminster on 7 December 1568. The letters, sonnets, divorce and marriage contract were examined at Hampton Court on 14 December 1568, and the handwriting compared with Mary's letters to Queen Elizabeth. The evidence produced by the Scottish Earls, who were now sworn to secrecy by the English Privy council, was perhaps bewildering;

"the whole writings lying altogether upoun the counsel table, the same were showed one after another by hap, as the same did ly on the table, than with any choyse made, as by the natures thereof, if time had so served might have been."

For overriding political reasons, Queen Elizabeth neither wished to accuse Queen Mary of murder nor acquit her of the same, so the conference was intended as a political show. Queen Mary was refused the right to be present, though her accusers, including Moray, were permitted to be present.

The outcome was that the Casket letters were accepted by the English commissioners as genuine after a study of the handwriting, and of the information contained therein. However, Queen Mary's commissioners were refused access to the letters to review or to study them. Yet, as Queen Elizabeth had wished, the inquiry reached the conclusion that nothing was proven. The outcome of the enquiry was to prolong doubts about Mary's character that Elizabeth used to prevent the Queens meeting.