Mary Seton

http://thepeerage.com/p2185.htm#i21843

    Mary Seton was the daughter of George Seton, 4th Lord Seton and Mary Pyerres.1 In 1548 she accompanied Mary Queen of Scots to France.1 She was Maid of Honour to Mary Queen of Scots, and returned with her to Scotland in 1561.1 Citations

   [S37] Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 1285. Hereinafter cited as Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 107th edition.

Birth: 1533 - Winton East Lothian Parents: George Seton, Marie Seton (born Pyerres) Siblings: Margaret Seton, Marion Seton, Marriott Seton, John Seton, Helenar Seaton, James Seton, George Seton, Margaret Springer (born Seton), Robert Seton, Robert Seton, Eleanor Seton, Beatrix Ogilvie (born Seton)

Mary Seton

Mary Seton was the daughter of George 4th Lord Seton by his second wife Mary Pyerres, another Lady in Waiting to Marie of Guise. Mary Seton was accompanied to France by a her young brother, James, who tragically died after drinking contaminated water at Ancenis on the Loire, before they reached the French Court at Orleans. After her father’s death in 1549, her mother returned to France to be with her and to seek a new husband, becoming Madame de Briante in 1554. Mary Seton was at least six months older than, but was probably the least glamorous of the four Maries, and was a similar height to Mary (5ft. 11 ins.) She never married, but was not without admirers although she seems to have been reluctant to break her vow of chastity.

Mary Seton remained in Mary’s service and was able to join her at Lochleven and during her period of house arrest in England, where she remained unpaid, with her own lady’s maid and groom for fifteen years. She was a noted hairdresser, a skill which she had learned in France, and Mary was dependent on her to maintain her rapidly thinning hair with wigs and hair pieces.

One of Seton’s admirers was Christopher, the second son of Sir Richard Norton, but he was executed for his part in the Northern Rising. When Andrew Bethune of Creich, a kinsman (probably uncle) of Mary Bethune, joined Mary’s household in England, he too courted Seton, but she was reluctant to marry someone below her distinguished rank in the Scottish nobility. Eventually in 1577, he travelled to France to release Seton from her vow of chastity but tragically died of smallpox as he was returning.

By 1583, Seton was broken in health, and she retired to France where she joined Mary’s aunt at the convent of St. Pierre des Dames in Reims. She lived on there in increasing penury until her death in 1616.

http://www.maryqueenofscots.net/happened-four-marys-beaton-seton-fl...