Victoria's interest in her tragic predecessor
lies behind one extraordinary item, now kept in Mary's bedchamber.
This is a fabulously over the top piece of furniture, with these hearts, sort of, pulsating here, what is it?
Well, this is a Flemish cabinet
and, it has a rather interesting history.
I wonder if we might have a look down here
and it says that this was a cabinet that Queen Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, brought from Paris
and was given to the Regent Lord Marr
and it then descended in his family
to Lord Belhaven who, in 1869,
presented it to Queen Victoria.
She must have loved it,
belonging to Mary Queen of Scots.
Absolutely,
and there was a great vogue, a great cult,
for anything that had an association with Mary Queen of Scots.
A romantic, tragic heroine,
that absolutely was something the Victorians loved, didn't they?
Yeah, very much so. I must admit, looking at it.
It's so pristine.
It's hard to believe that it really is that old.