ON THE AFTERNOON OF SATURDAY, 9 March 1566, Darnley played tennis with Rizzio.1That evening, Rizzio was one of those present at a supper party given by the Queen in her closet at Holyrood Palace.2 The little room, measuring only about 12 feet by 10 feet, was crowded with guests: Mary’s half-sister, Jean, Countess of Argyll; Jean’s uncle, Robert Beaton, Laird of Creich, Master of the Queen’s Household; Lord Robert Stewart; Sir Arthur Erskine of Blackgrange, Mary’s Master of the Horse, Mar’s brother and, according to Knox, “the most pestilent papist in the realm”; the Queen’s French apothecary; a page, Anthony Standen the Younger; and a groom. Rizzio, who was wearing a splendid gown of furred damask over a satin doublet and russet velvet hose,3had not removed his cap, as was customary when a man was in the presence of his sovereign.4 Darnley was not present; he and Mary rarely dined together these days. Instead, he was busy admitting the conspirators to the palace. Morton was in charge of setting an armed guard of between 100 and 500 men (estimates vary)5around Holyrood, seizing the keys from the porter and securing all the gates and doors, so that none should enter or depart.6He also posted about twenty men on the stairs leading up to the Queen’s apartments.
