Colin MacPhail (1540-1557) was a Scottish nobleman who, in 1557, took part in Catherine de Medici's plot to ruin the marriage between Prince Francis and Mary, Queen of Scots by drugging and raping Mary. He escaped from prison before being captured and killed by Queen Catherine's guards, preventing him from revealing Catherine's plot.
Biography[]
Colin MacPhail was born in Galloway in 1540, the son of a servant of King James V of Scotland who had been granted large holdings by the King. In 1557, he became betrothed to Mary, Queen of Scots' lady-in-waiting Mary Fleming, and the two of them came to Queen Catherine de Medici of France to seek her blessing for their marriage, as they would live in Paris to help serve Queen Mary. Catherine secretly recruited Colin into her plot to ruin the marriage of Queen Mary to her son, Prince Francis, as Nostradamus had predicted that their marriage would lead to Francis' death; she threatened to harm MacPhail's family unless he complied. Colin was sent to drug and rape Queen Mary, but Mary was warned of the poisoning by an unknown courtier, and Colin was then arrested and ordered to be executed the next morning by order of King Henry II of France and Queen Catherine, who covered up her guilt in the plot by blaming the plot on England. However, the guards executed the wrong man by accident, while Colin - who had been tortured - managed to escape with the help of Clarissa Delacroix. Half a day later, he was captured by the Queen's guards, hung upside down, and had his throat slit.