Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley were Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret, daughter of Henry VII of England and widow of James IV of Scotland. It is the common belief that Darnley was born on 7 December, but this is disputed. He was a first cousin and the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was the father of her son James VI of Scotland, who succeeded Elizabeth I of England as James I. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was born, at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1545. However this date is uncertain as his parents were
Stewart of Darnley east of Barrhead, present day Darnley, within the city of Glasgow. In 1356, Robert Stewart, High Steward of Scotland granted the barony to Sir John Stewart. Like the Royal Stewarts, the Stewarts of Darnley used both the Stuart and the Stewart spelling of their surname. Sir John Stewart of Darnley (d.1429) fought in the Hundred Years' War under his namesake and distant cousin John Stewart, 2nd Earl of Buchan in the army of Charles VII of France. For his services he was rewarded with the lands of Aubigny-sur-Nere and Concressault which were given to the second son in the family