The relationship between Mary I of Scotland (1542–87) and Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603) was fraught with tension, suspicion and mutual distrust. Their personal misgivings had deep roots in the violence and antagonism that had characterised Anglo-Scottish relations for centuries, but also stemmed from more immediate religious and political anxieties. Like many of his predecessors, Henry VIII had a cunning plan to unite the two countries under one (English) crown, but just like other English kings who had ‘behaved like bulls in the Scottish china shop’, his attempts backfired. The Scots refused to deliver up their infant Queen Mary for marriage to Henry's own son Prince Edward, driving them further into the arms of their ‘Auld Alliance’ with France, which for centuries had worked as a check on English dominance of Britain. As a result, the six-year-old Mary was spirited away to the French court and betrothed to the Dauphin François, whom she married on 24 April 1558. As the grand-daughter of Margaret Tudor (Henry VIII's older sister), Mary also had a strong claim to the English throne, and following Mary Tudor's death without an heir on 17 November 1558, the French seized the opportunity to assert her rights and cast suspicion on the legitimacy of the proclaimed Protestant Queen Elizabeth. Mary even incorporated the English arms into her royal iconography, a threatening move that increased in significance after she became queen of France on 10 July 1559. However, to the relief of English Protestants, Mary's political position was transformed again when François died on 5 December 1560, and she was forced to return to her native Scotland in August 1561.