Dr. Estelle Paranque insists that Mary never met Queen Elizabeth I, unlike what it's depicted in the movie's trailer.
- Jul 26, 2018
AceShowbiz - Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie's new Mary Queen of Scots biopic has been hammered by a top historian, who insists the film is full of inaccuracies.
The trailer for the movie, in which Ronan portrays the title character and Robbie her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, was released earlier this month, and now top U.K. history scholar Dr. Estelle Paranque has blasted what she has seen so far.
She insists scenes in which Mary and Elizabeth meet in the trailer never happened.
"We have proof of that," she tells Britain's Daily Telegraph. "We have letters of frustration of Mary and we have letters of Elizabeth not knowing what she should do or not do in that case".
Dr. Paranque is also keen to point out that the royal cousins were never friendly, despite scenes in the trailer that suggest they were.
The academic insists the two women were born rivals thanks to Mary's claim to Elizabeth's throne and their opposing religious views - Mary was a Catholic and Elizabeth was Protestant.
Dr. Paranque has also taken aim at Ronan's Scottish accent in the film, revealing the real Mary Stuart would have sounded more French, as she spent much of her youth in France.
"She was raised in France and she was a de Guise sometimes more than she was a Stuart, I have to say," the history expert adds.
"An historical fiction does not have to be 100 per cent accurate, however, I think when we know things that happened we have to keep it because otherwise where do we draw the line? Why not have Mary kill Elizabeth? Why not change history? It is not an historical movie any more, it is just fiction".
Mary Queen of Scots will hit U.S. cinemas in December to become eligible for an Oscars nomination. The film will be released across Europe in January, 2019.
