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David Riccio, whom he pretended to regard as Mary's secret adviser.
For this purpose he turned for assistance to the reformed party whose
fears had been aroused by Mary's religious policy. A confederation was
formed consisting of Darnley, the Earl of Morton, Lord Ruthven, and
Lindsay for the murder of Riccio. The Earl of Lennox Darnley's father,
Moray, Argyll, and Maitland of Lethington, the English ambassador, and
apparently John Knox, were aware of the design and approved of it.[26]
When everything was ready for the opening of Parliament the murderers
forced their way into the presence of the queen, and slew her
secretary almost in her presence (9 March 1566). On the next day
Darnley issued a proclamation ordering those who had assembled for the
Parliament to leave Edinburgh, and on the same evening the Earl of
Moray arrived in the capital.

The conspirators had agreed to proclaim Darnley king of Scotland. For
this purpose the queen was to be held a prisoner or to be slain if she
attempted to make her escape, but she succeeded in eluding the
vigilance of her captors and in making her way to Dunbar, where she
was joined by Archbishop Hamilton, the Earls of Huntly, Atholl, and
Bothwell. She advanced on Edinburgh without meeting any resistance,
while the murderers of Riccio were obliged to make their escape into
England. Darnley deserted his fellow conspirators by communicating to
the queen the details of the plot. His desertion did not, however,
gain him the dictatorship he desired, as Mary pardoned Moray and
Argyll, and received them together with Huntly, Atholl, and Bothwell
into her councils. The birth of an heir to the throne would, it was
thought, lead to a better understanding between Mary and her husband,
but unfortunately it had no result. Though the baptism of the prince
was carried out in the chapel-royal of Stirling Castle with all the
pomp and splendour of Catholic ceremonial (December 1566) Darnley
refused to be present or to take any part in the festivities. A few
days later Morton and the other murderers of Riccio were pardoned, and
allowed to return to Scotland.

The Earls of Moray and Argyll and the other leading conspirators were
incensed against Darnley for having communicated to the queen their
share in the plot that led to Riccio's murder. Bothwell, who had done
so much to frustrate the conspiracy, detested Darnley almost as
fiercely as he himself was detested by both Darnley and the Earl of
Lennox. During the latter half of the year 1566 nearly all the great
lords of Scotland entered into a confederation or "band" against
Darnley. Whether they meant merely to assist the queen to procure a
legal separation from her husband with the support and approval of
Parliament, or whether they intended to bring about Darnley's death by
legal or illegal means is not sufficiently clear.[27]

Soon after the baptism of the prince, Darnley fell ill in Glasgow of
small-pox. The queen sent her physician to attend him, went herself to
visit him, and when he began to improve had him removed to a lonely
house outside Edinburgh, where she frequently spent hours in his
company. To all appearances a complete reconciliation had been
effected, and Darnley in his letters expressed his entire satisfaction
with the kindness and attention of his wife. Suddenly on the night of
the 11th February 1567 the house was blown up, and Darnley was killed.
Suspicion pointed to Bothwell as the author of the crime, and no doubt
the case against him was strong, though how far he was assisted and
encouraged by some of the other lords must for ever remain a mystery.
Mary's concurrence or implication in the design is not proved by any
reliable evidence, and were it not for her subsequent conduct it is
not likely that complicity in the murder of her husband would have
been laid to her charge. At the privy council on the day following the
murder an explanation was drawn up and forwarded to France, declaring
that a plot against the lives of the queen, king, and principal nobles
had been discovered, and that it was only by a happy accident that the
queen's life had been saved.

The Earl of Lennox, Darnley's father, charged Bothwell publicly with
the murder of the king and demanded that he should be brought to
justice. A day was fixed for the trial, but as Bothwell was powerful
in the councils of the queen and was both able and willing to resort
to force if force were necessary, it was very difficult to procure
evidence against him. Lennox pleaded unsuccessfully for a delay, and
as no one was prepared to come forward to prove the charges, Bothwell
was acquitted (12th April 1567). A few days later most of the lords