- In 1947 the city held its first Edinburgh International Festival. Originally for opera, it is now a consortium of festivals held each August. This diverse group of cultural events includes opera, films, comedy, theatre, performance art as well as the Military Tattoo. the largest of which is the "Fringe Festival".
- Edinburgh was the home to the Scottish Royal Family until the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. After this the Scottish King James VI became King James I of England. He moved his court to London beginning a period of long royal neglect that ended only when Queen Victoria began to vacation annually in Scotland. Currently, Elizabeth II resides in Edinburgh for at least a week each year and other members of her family make frequent appearances in the city. Recently Prince William of Wales began to attend university in Scotland.
- William Brodie was an upstanding citizen and cabinet maker who was also one the city's leading thieves. When he visited the homes of his clients he would case the place and make an impression of the key. Weeks later there would be a mysterious robbery with no sign of forced entry. Brodie was a man of much skill and was only caught when one of his accomplices turned King's Evidence. In the end Brodie was hanged from a scaffold he had helped to build. Later Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh and took inspiration from this infamous native for his story "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".
- For centuries Edinburgh University has had a medical school famous in the United Kingdom. Often the medical students were unable to secure enough cadavers to be used in their training. Thus the city became the home to many grave robbers who would supply the professors with human remains. The most notorious of these are Burke and Hare, two grave robbers who decided that the risks of digging up peoples loved ones was too arduous. their ingenious solution was to murder people rather than waiting for them to die. In the end the serial killers were hung and their bodies ended up on the tables at the University. The Doctor who purchased their wares left Scotland in disgrace.
- Owing to the frequent raids from the English residents of Edinburgh were unwilling to live outside the protection offered by the city walls. This lead to some buildings being as high as eleven stories. In the early part of the eighteenth century, the city was the most densely populated place in Europe.
| Perhaps no resident of Edinburgh
is more famous than Mary Queen of Scots. Ironically, she
lived in the land for only twelve of her forty-four years and her
period of personal rule lasted a mere six years, none of which were
free from strife.
Born as her father lay dying she became Queen before she was a week old. During her infancy King Henry VIII of England raided the country several times in order to kidnap the girl and secure her as a bride for his son Edward. She was sent to France by her Mother and raised as a daughter by the King. At the age of 16 she married the heir to the French throne who became King shortly thereafter. When her young husband died a year into his reign she was left a teenaged childless Queen Dowager. She returned to the land of her birth to find herself a Catholic Queen in a country in the midst of Protestant Reformation. Many of her protestant subjects feared that she would become a second 'Bloody Mary' and like her cousin Mary Tudor attempt to force her country back to the Catholic faith. Plots and rebellions against her were a persistent occurrence. Knowing herself to be in a weak position, needing to keep both her Catholic allies and her subjects contented, Mary set a policy of tolerance and moderation in religious matters. Radicals on both sides of the religious spectrum found fault with Mary's tolerance of the religious diversity in Scotland. Mary herself made matters worse by her disastrous romances. She married her cousin Henry Darnley in the hopes of strengthening her claim to the English throne. After only a few short months he began to plot against her in the hope of securing the throne of Scotland for himself. He and other Scottish nobles murdered Mary's private secretary and friend David Rizzio as she watched, helpless to intervene. When Mary was able to put down this rebellion he turned on his former allies and attempted unsuccessfully to reconcile with the Queen. In the end his erstwhile allies disgusted at his betrayal murdered him as he lay ill at his home Kirk O' Field. It is still debated how much Mary herself knew about the plans to murder her husband the Scottish king. With Darnley out of the way the remaining Scottish lords were horrified when one of their own kidnapped Mary and became her third husband. He was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell was one of the leading suspects in the murder of Darnley. Her marriage to him cost her the love of her people, her tenuous friendship with her cousin Elizabeth I, and her catholic allies around Europe. In one short month Mary was driven from the throne, forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son and placed in captivity by the Scottish lords. Her husband escaped the country only to be taken prisoner in Denmark. Bothwell would live another eleven years in a dungeon slowly going insane. Mary was also able to escape from her prison, the castle and Lochleven, and she made her way to the English border. Mary of Scotland was the last person whom Elizabeth would wish to see in her kingdom. Viewed by many Catholics as the rightful Queen of England, Mary was a great danger to Elizabeth. Mary became Elizabeth's "guest" and spent nineteen years in captivity in her cousin's country. Since Mary was also the unacknowledged heir to the throne, her jailers were always cautious to treat her with the respect due to one so close to becomeing Queen of the land. As the years passed the captive Mary became a romantic figure to many and was able to restore the reputation lost by her marriage to Bothwell. In hopes of securing her freedom and of capturing Elizabeth's throne, Mary began to communicate clandestinely with English Catholics and her European allies. Using her claim to the English throne as leverage, she began to look for a fourth husband who would free her, overthrow Elizabeth and rule at her side. Eventually Elizabeth was forced to have Mary executed in 1587. Her execution lead Phillip of Spain to launch the armada against England in 1588. Mary was never able to sit on the throne of England as Queen. However, since 1603 all the monarchs of England have been her direct descendants. She is buried in Westminster Abbey in London, a city she never saw while alive.
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