Francis II of France - King Consort of Scots

King Consort of Scots

Following the death of her father, James V, King of Scots, Mary I was crowned Queen of Scots in Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543, at the age of nine months. The marriage between the Queen of Scots and the Dauphin of France, was arranged by Henry II of France in 1548, when Francis was just four years old. Once the marriage agreement had been formally ratified, the now six-year-old Mary was sent to France, to be raised in the royal court until the marriage.

Despite the fact that Mary was tall for her age (eventually reaching 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), making her almost a giant in the sixteenth century) and fluent in speech, while Francis was abnormally short and stuttered, Henry II commented that "from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time".

On 24 April 1558, the fourteen-year-old Dauphin was married to the Queen of Scots in a union that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary's great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England. However, Mary and Francis were to have no children during their short lived marriage, possibly due to Francis' illnesses or his undescended testicles.

• Royal arms of Francis, Dauphin and King consort of Scots

• Royal arms of Mary, Queen of Scots, impaled with those of Francis