David Rizzio
(David Riccio)

1533 - 1566

Secretary and supposed lover of Mary Queen of Scots. As an inflated foreign catholic, and a close confidant of the Queen, he was widely disliked. This precipitated his murder, in front of the Queen, at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He is said to have been stabbed 57 times. The conspirators were a band of Protestant nobles, including Henry Stuart (Lord Darnley), the Queen's husband. This incident became partially responsible for Darnley's untimely demise.

Rizzio is interred in the Canongate Kirkyard (Edinburgh).

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