And, in fact, in those days, unless you were very lucky, or you had a very skilled executioner with a sharp blade, it usually took more than one blow to sever your head and in Mary's case, as the accounts go from the time, the first blow hit her on the back of the head, the second blow, virtually decapitated her, all but for one sinew, and then to cut that the axe was used as a saw. A grisly end indeed. But for Mary's son James, the predictions of greater power would come true. James VI of Scotland would become James I of England too. In 1603 he travelled south to claim his second crown. It was a triumph for the Stuart dynasty. But the triumph would be short lived. The Stuart grip on power would end in civil war and the execution of James' son Charles I by the English Parliament.


事实上，在那些日子里，除非你非常幸运，或者有一个熟练的刽子手，有着一把锋利的刀刃，砍下你的脑袋通常需要不止一次。玛丽的情况是第一次砍到了她脑袋的后面，第二次实际上已经把她斩首，只剩下一块肌肉连着，最后用斧子锯掉那块肌肉，确实是恐怖的结局。但玛丽的儿子詹姆斯，却又真的取得大权。苏格兰王詹姆斯六世，也成为英格兰王詹姆斯一世。1603年他南下接受第二次加冕是斯图亚特王朝的胜利。可惜好景不长，斯图亚特王朝因内战失势，詹姆斯儿子查理一世，被英国国会处死。