Once again, we had no intention of visiting the Smith Café when we set out. It was a lovely day, so we actually set out for the Potting Shed in Callander. It’s a lovely wee place that we first reviewed more than five years ago

We had coffee and cake before taking a walk down by the river. Very peaceful, but the water was quite high after recent much-needed rain.

Silver casket

Heading homeward, we knew there was a traffic problem in Stirling. Going north is okay, but south is a nightmare. To avoid it, we took a detour, and coincidentally, it virtually took us to the door of the Stirling Smith Art Gallery & Museum. We had read on social media that Mary Queen of Scots’ silver casket was temporarily on display here. It’s not every day you get to see such a personal effect of our current King’s great, great, great great grandmother. And since we were already here, we thought we should take a look. 

We see folk moaning about their lives in the media. Fretting over whether they’ve wasted theirs or wondering if they could have done more. They could do worse than look at Mary Queen of Scots’ life. Relatively short and much of it in prison, but still eventful. 

44 years of Mary

• became Queen of Scotland at 6 days old
• smuggled out of Scotland to France aged four
•  became Queen of France aged 16
• King of France dies, returns to Scotland
• Marries Lord Darnley, who murdered her secretary, David Rizzio
• Marries the Earl of Bothwell, who murdered Lord Darnley
• imprisoned on Loch Leven and forced to give up the crown in favour of the son she had never met
• escapes from Loch Leven
• her army was defeated by her son’s army at Langside
•  exiled to England and imprisoned for 19 years
• beheaded on the orders of her cousin, Elizabeth I
• Buried in Peterborough before being dug up and transferred to Westminster Abbey

Ironically, it may well have been some of the letters from the casket that were used as proof of her treachery towards Elizabeth.  Many, however, think they were fabricated. In many ways, rather than living her life,  Mary had her life done to her.  Whatever, we think she must have comforted herself with scones during her many years of captivity.

We spent much longer than we had anticipated going round this fabulous museum so we were ready for a scone by the time we had finished. They had plain or blueberry scones. Plenty of butter and jam but no cream.  We chose to try a blueberry one. Although it didn’t look too promising, it turned out to be surprisingly light. The blueberries provided lovely, tasty, squishy bits amidst the softness of the scone.  No topscone but enjoyable nevertheless.

As we sat there in the Smith Café, news was coming through that the bromance between Trump and Musk might be heading towards the rocks. Oh dear, what a shame, never mind!

With Musk, having put Trump in the White House, it was only a matter of time before the slightest sign of ingratitude would have a profound effect. It made us wonder if it might help the world order if leaders such as Putin, Musk and Trump had to prepare for a fight, as in days of yore, Musk’s t-shirt and baseball cap just wouldn’t cut it … not even as a responsible, sane human being.  Maybe by the time they had polished all their armour and prepared their horses, they might have forgotten why they were fighting in the first place? But then we remembered that it didn’t stop them back then, and these guys would probably enjoy dressing up anyway. Mary Queen of Scots wouldn’t have given any of them the time of day.

FK8 2RQ          tel: 01786 471917           Smith Café

///verse.ready.things

ps: The Stirling Smith Gallery also has a room dedicated to Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, another inspirational figure whose life was just one long adventure. Worth investigating!