Mary, Queen of Scots

About Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), was one of the most consequential political figures of the 16th century, whose brief, tumultuous reign entangled Scotland in the religious and dynastic conflicts engulfing the British Isles. As a Catholic claimant to the English throne and a central figure in the Reformation power struggles, her life story-from being Queen of France to her eventual execution under orders from her cousin, Elizabeth I-secured her high historical importance, ranking her #532 globally in the Pantheon index.

Despite this profound historical gravity, Mary's contemporary online footprint suggests a degree of modern neglect. She garnered 3.2 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. While this is a substantial number, it results in an attention gap score of +9x, indicating that the internet pays nine times more attention to her than her historical importance rank would suggest is warranted based on the overall Pantheon distribution. For contrast, politicians of similar historical stature, like Bill Clinton (#704 importance), drew 6.6 million views in the same year, suggesting a discrepancy between historical weight and modern search interest for the Scottish monarch.

While her year-over-year interest saw a slight decline of -5.8%, the momentum from Q1 to Q3 showed a minor rebound of +2%, suggesting sustained, though perhaps not rapidly growing, public fascination.