MARY Queen of Scots will return to Traquair this weekend - 450 years after her last visit.

The ill-fated Mary Stuart arrived at Scotland's oldest inhabited house on a hunting expedition in August, 1566 during her reign as Queen of Scotland.

The fourth Laird of Traquair, John Stuart, who was the Captain of the Royal Bodyguard, played host to the monarch.

Traquair was to become a refuge for Catholic priests during the Reformation and Civil Wars, with the Stuarts of Traquair supporting Mary and the Jacobite cause.

This weekend a commemorative celebration of the connections between the Peeblesshire estate and Mary Queen of Scots will begin.

On Saturday The Galloway Consort presents The Darkest Hour...

And there will also be a launch of The Queen's Captain exhibition.

A spokeswoman for Traquir told the Peeblesshire News: "The performance of The Darkest Hour… is by one of Scotland's best known early music groups, The Galloway Consort, who specialize in on 15th and17th century music from the courts of Europe.

"This show focuses on the imagined correspondence of lovers at the troubled court of Mary and is illustrated with song and music from instruments of the 16th century."

The Queen's Captain exhibition will feature many treasures connected with Mary, including the bed in which she slept, her rosary and crucifix as well as the cradle where she rocked her baby son, James.

Also, on display for the exhibition are some rarely seen documents signed by Mary and an effigy of her death mask, kindly on loan from L Grandison & Sons.

Tickets for Saturday's performance of The Darkest Hour..., which starts at 7.30pm, are available directly from Traquair House.