PANEL 46    Robert Carey’s Great Ride

On 24 March 1603, Sir Robert Carey began a journey he hoped would bring him favour and gain. He attended the dying Queen Elizabeth in her last days and when the old queen expired, his sister, Philadelphia, pulled a ring from her finger. It had been a gift from James VI of Scotland. She gave it to her brother who rode like the wind to Edinburgh to give James the news he had been waiting for for almost 20 years. Carey had organised a relay of post horses and he reached Berwick after only 48 hours. But somewhere north of the town he fell off his horse and, while he lay on the ground, it kicked him. Spattered with blood and mud, he clattered into the inner courtyard of Holyrood-house and demanded that King James be woken. When Carey gave him the old queen’s ring, he knew that his life and the history of his nation had turned in a new direction. The Union of the Crowns would surely lead to ever-closer ties. But James’s new courtiers in London were not impressed with Carey. His conduct was condemned as ‘contrary to all decency, good manners and respect’ and he was dismissed from the post James had given him as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. But he persisted and was eventually made Earl of Monmouth by Charles I in 1626. He wrote a memoir which became an excellent source for the story of the Border Reivers and its second edition was annotated by Sir Walter Scott.

 

Panel stitched by:

Ageing Well Edinburgh

Robina Brown

Caroline M Buchanan

Linda Garcia

Laura Kempton Smith

Kath Laing

Sheila McFarland

Sheila Miller

Mary Stewart

Ruth Watson

Stitched in:

Edinburgh