UP CLOSE, even under protective glass, it is a thing of rare beauty, a delicate parchment on which the copperplate handwriting in dark ink has faded but is still readily discernible.

There are no words crossed out, and any smudges are the result of more than four centuries of this letter surviving the hands of many owners until it came into the care of the Advocates Library in Edinburgh in 1923, since when it has been perfectly preserved.

The French used is of the time, the late 16th century, but still perfectly readable by anyone with a basic knowledge of the language.

Above all, it is heartbreakingly composed, phrased with an almost unearthly precision, especially when you know that the woman who wrote it died six hours later and knew full well that she was going to be gruesomely beheaded, despite her being a queen and related to the queen who signed her death warrant, Elizabeth of England.

The National Library of Scotland yesterday put on special display the last letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, written to her brother-in-law, King Henry III of France, at around 2am on the morning of February 8, 1587 – 430 years ago yesterday At 8am that day in the hall of Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, an indecently quick time after her fixed show trial on entrapment charges, the executioner took two blows to cut off Mary’s head. They found her pet dog concealed amid her petticoats even as her royal blood flowed.

Some have called the letter one of the most powerful documents in Scotland’s long history. It is all of that, and to be close to it and realise that it is the actual letter – no copy, no fake, the real thing – that was written in the wee sma’ hours of that day, 430 years ago yesterday, by Marie R, as she signed herself, is a very moving experience.

The National:

No matter her faults, and they were many, the one question you ask yourself on seeing the letter is whether she really deserved to die after 19 years of imprisonment in England.

The letter to the brother of her first husband states: “I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning.”

Mary pleads her loyalty to her Catholic faith, distressed that she will die without the sacraments as her chaplain has been removed, and asks that the wages of her servants should be paid.

Towards the end of the letter, she asks King Henry to have “prayers offered to God for a queen who has borne the title Most Christian, and who dies a Catholic, stripped of all her possessions”.

She also commends her son, King James VI of Scotland and the future James I of England and Ireland, to Henry saying “insofar as he deserves, for I cannot answer for him” and says she is enclosing two gemstones, talismans against illness.

There was an orderly queue at the National Library building at the place named after her descendant, George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, quite some time before the doors opened at 10am. So many people wanted to see it but couldn’t get time off work that opening hours were extended to 7pm last night.

Those who attended got a special bonus as the National Library also exhibited a book from Mary’s library, a charter bearing her great seal, a letter written to her mother, Mary of Guise, while in exile in France, and two letters sent to her supporter John Mure of Rowallan.

A Book of Hours that belonged to Mary of Guise, a heraldic depiction of Mary and her first husband King Francis II of France, and an account of her life and death were also on show. Those who visited the display had diverse reasons for doing so.

“I am just fascinated by it,” said Ruth Wilcox from Edinburgh. “I did Scottish history at university so I have had an interest in things like this for a long time.”

National reader Caroline Campbell from Cupar in Fife said: “I just had a gut feeling that I had to come and see it, especially as today is the anniversary of her death.”

Clare Hunter from Balquhidder, who is writing a book on the textiles that Mary had around her, said: “I am writing about how the textiles can carry the essence of a person, so when I heard the actual letter that she sat in front of, thinking about what she would write next, was going on display, I wanted to know what that would feel like to see something that she had touched.”

Rachel McWilliam from Edinburgh said: “I have an enthusiasm for that period of history, Mary’s life in particular, and the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth. I saw a superb play a few years ago at the Royal Lyceum about the supposed relationship between them and that sparked my enthusiasm.”

The letter is now back in the special conservation area of the National Lib- rary where it remains in the dark to preserve the ink and the memory of a beautiful, fateful Queen of Scots.