Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of the Castle and Palace on visit to Stirling. The castle is one of the largest and most important Scottish castles. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. The royal palace was built for King James V and Mary of Guise in 1538. Dowager queen, Mary of Guise, and her young daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, are known to have stayed at the royal palace in the 1540s. Mary of Guise, French: Marie de Guise; born 22 November 1515, died 11 June 1560, also called Mary of Lorraine, ruled Scotland as regent from 1554 until her death. A noblewoman from the Lotharingian House of Guise, she played a prominent role in 16th century French politics. Mary became queen consort upon her marriage to King James V of Scotland in 1538. Her infant daughter, Mary, ascended the throne when James died in 1542. Mary of Guise's main goal as regent was a close alliance between the powerful French Catholic nation and smaller Scotland, which she wanted to be Catholic and independent of England. She was ultimately unable to prevent the Protestant Reformation in Scotland, which after her death left her daughter in a precarious position
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