On this day in 1560 King Francis II of France, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots, died.
Francis was the Dauphin of France - the eldest son of the king and heir to the throne. He married Mary, Queen of Scots in 1558 when she was 14. She secretly agreed that should she die without any heirs, Scotland would fall to the French Crown. The Scots were worried that the Catholic Francis might eventually become King of Scotland. Francis succeeded to the French throne in July 1559 but died of an ear infection on 6 December 1560, the monarchy falling to his mother Catherine de Medici.
