Embroideries worked on by Mary, Queen of Scots during her lengthy imprisonment are back on the walls of a stately home in Norfolk.
The needleworks, which are said to contain coded references encouraging the assassination of her cousin Elizabeth I, have been in storage for three years while repairs were being carried out at Oxburgh Hall, near Swaffham.
Now the items, which were created between 1569 and 1584, are back on display in a climate-controlled room at the 15th century moated manor house owned by the National Trust.
Donna Baldwin, general manager at Oxburgh, said: “The embroideries are significant and beautiful works of art, and they tell the story of an important historic moment.
"The hidden messages within the hangings are very clever and visitors enjoy trying to discover the intriguing story for themselves.”
Elizabeth I considered Mary a threat to the throne and kept her captive for 18 years, much of which was spent under the watchful eye of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.
Mary worked on the tapestries with his wife Elizabeth Talbot, popularly known as ‘Bess of Hardwick,’ the Countess of Shrewsbury.
The embroideries, which are on long-term loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, include a panel known as the Marian Hanging.
It features a hand holding a pruning hook and cutting back a vine and was seen as asserting Mary's claim to the throne and suggesting the need to cut away the fruitless branch of the Tudor tree, represented by the childless Elizabeth.
It was interpreted as offering encouragement to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk - who was proposed as a possible husband for Mary - to assassinate Elizabeth I and install her cousin on the throne.
The panel was cited as evidence before the duke was found guilty of treason and executed in 1572. Mary herself was executed in 1587.
She was never incarcerated at Oxburgh.
Her embroideries are believed to have found their way to Norfolk after Mary Browne, of Cowdray Park, married Sir Richard Bedingfeld, who owned the hall in 1761.
The Browne family had previously inherited objects and relics belonging to Mary from the Howard family.
Visitors can see the panels on display at Oxburgh Hall.
The house is open for guided tours on Thursdays and Fridays (bookable upon arrival) and free-flow on Saturdays and Sundays between 11am - 2.30pm.
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