I agree; Mary's life is crammed so full of interesting things that it would be difficult to select just one aspect of it on which to focus.  Exploring the evidence against her as regards either plotting against Elizabeth or having Darnley killed would probably be interesting.  Or how her familial relationships with either the Guises or her brother Moray affected her ability to rule.  Then there is the whole Scots backdrop of regency after regency, with the monarchs being merely titular and the lords running the country, leading to rebellions periodically in order to reestablish royal rule. There is also the question of Mary being the Catholic figurehead and great hope of restoring the auld religion to England were she to succeed Elizabeth, yet paradoxically having to reach a concord with Knox and his Presbyterians in order to maintain her throne and having to worship in secret.

 

I am not having any more luck than you in narrowing this down, Trinket!

Summing up Mary Queen of Scots life is no easy task! 

 

Maybe how the events of her early life affected her?  She became Queen of Scots as a mere infant.  Wooed roughly by Henry VIII for little Edward, and then sent to the French court, living under the care of the formiable Catherine de Medici.  She was used to the sophistication of the French court, and ill-prepared to understand her own subjects as Queen of Scotland, as the two courts could not be more different.  Her mother was Regent of Scotland while she was in France, and consort of the French King.

 

Here's some ideas:

 

(she was Queen Regnant of Scotland and Queen Consort of France.  She never did rule in any sense until she returned to Scotland and attempted to, and she was soon deposed for her son.)

 

Emphasizing her attempts to overthrow Elizabeth, from proclaiming herself Queen of England while she was in France, to when she was in the care of the English Queen.

 

Her courtship and marriage of Darnley, how Elizabeth plotted it for Mary's downfall, her miserable marriage, and her possible role in Darnley's death.

 

How her mother was regent, and when she tried to be Queen herself, she was deposed by her Lords. 

 

Mary's childhood in the French court, and her marriage to Francis.  This time period in her life was relatively happy.  Contrasting it with her life once she returned to Scotland.

 

 

****

 

I would love to find out what you come up with!!  If you ever need any help with research, you know the people to ask

 

oops!  messed up.  has a lot to do with why she was never an effective ruler.  try combining several without giving yourself too much work or boring your audiance!

okay, it messed up again!  i said her french upbringing has a lot to do with why she was never an effective ruler.  sorry!