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
James VI and I Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, the older sister of Henry VIII. Mary's rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. During Mary's and Darnley's difficult marriage, Darnley secretly allied himself with the rebels and conspired in the murder of the Queen's private secretary, David Rizzio, just three months before James's birth. James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay