This wash drawing is one of David Allan’s sketches for a series of large-scale history paintings, most of which were never executed. Mistakenly inscribed ‘Queen Mary surrenders at Pinkie’, this drawing shows Mary’s return to Edinburgh after her surrender at Carberry Hill. Essentially a prisoner of the Confederate Lords, she was taken to the Provost’s residence on High Street. An angry and excited mob eagerly awaited her arrival, shouting abuse and accusing her of murder. The rebel Lords’ propaganda had clearly worked. To the left, their banner shows an image of the young Prince James and his murdered father, Lord Darnley. The writing: ‘Judge and revenge my cause, O Lord’, implied that the Lords were acting in the prince’s interest by avenging Darnley’s death.