How Sleuths Decoded the Secret Letters of a Scottish Queen

Résumé détaillé

When codebreakers found cryptic letters in the French national library, they had no idea they were about to uncover a mystery of royal proportions.

When codebreakers found cryptic letters in the French national library, they had no idea they were about to uncover a mystery of royal proportions.

In the second half of the 16th century, a series of encoded letters made their way via trusted couriers to the French embassy in London. These letters contained observations about the political situation in Europe, assessments about the character of figures such as Queen Elizabeth I, talk of spies, and even complaints about ill health.

They were presumably read and then stashed away by unknown hands, and, it seems, eventually forgotten. But in time, those letters made their way to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, specifically to a folder related to Italy in the 1520s and 30s. As the digital age dawned, the letters were scanned and uploaded in crisp high resolution to the library’s website. And that’s how they came to the attention of a trio of modern codebreakers, who cracked the cipher wide open and made an astonishing discovery: they were written by the ill-fated Mary, Queen of Scots.

It’s the latest twist in the story of a royal whose life was full of them. Mary—also known as Mary Stuart—was born into a world that was turbulent and often downright chaotic. The 1500s were a time of enormous upheaval as the Protestant Reformation upended the stability of Europe, sending shockwaves through royal houses interconnected by a complex tangle of marriages, blood ties, and fierce rivalries. The letters offer a window onto this cataclysmic era marked by bitter religious conflict, irreconcilable political differences, and espionage.

Centuries later, Mary remains a figure of fascination. In the last decade alone, she’s been the subject of a film starring Saoirse Ronan (with Margot Robbie playing her chief rival and cousin, Elizabeth I) and a Gossip Girl-esque TV show on the CW (Reign). A major exhibition of her life and legacy is also being planned for next summer at the National Museum of Scotland.

Now, the decoded letters are…

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