I am Mary of Guise, I was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. I was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, I was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of my daughter from 1554 until my death in 1560.