How might cryptic messages written from within a political prison bring us closer to understanding a captive queen? Historian Jade Scott has studied the letters Mary, Queen of Scots wrote in captivity, and describes them as "her weapons, her armour, her battle strategy". Speaking to Lauren Good, she reveals what we can learn from these coded missives – from the huge varieties of cipher they contained to how the Queen of Scots smuggled them past her captors.

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Rosemary Goring reveals more about the Scottish years of Mary, Queen of Scots: https://link.chtbl.com/6WgzyzA0.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

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