Mary Beaton
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Mary Beaton was an attendant of Mary I of Scotland. She was born in 1543, and died in 1598 at the age of 55. Like the Queen, she was of Scottish descent. Mary Beaton was described as pretty and plump, with fair hair and dark eyes. Several works also describe her personality as being one of a shy daydreamer who often sought solitude.
Her mother was one of Marie de Guises's ladies-in-waiting. In 1548, at age 5, Mary Beaton was chosen by Marie de Guise to accompany her daughter Mary to France. She, along with three other girls who also accompanied the Queen, were to become known as the 'Four Marys'.
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Mary Beaton, attracted the attentions of an older man, Lord Thomas Randolph. At the time of the courtship, in 1564, Randolph was 45 and Mary was 21. Randolph was Queen Elizabeth's English Ambassador to the Scottish court, and wanted Mary Beaton to spy on her mistress for him. She turned him down. Mary Beaton eventually married Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne in April of 1566, having one son, James, born in 1568. Little else is known of her life.
