Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley not together in early 1545 and a letter of March 1566, from Mary Queen of Scots, indicates Darnley was then nineteen years old. Therefore the date 1546 would seem probable. A descendant of both James II of Scotland and Henry VII of England, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was heir to two royal houses, the House of Stuart and the House of Tudor, thus he had claim to both the Scottish and English thrones, a claim that may have cost him his life. In 1545, his father, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox was found guilty of treason in Scotland for
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