In my end is my beginning

Over the Easter weekend I read Antonia Fraser's biography of Mary Queen of Scots (which was first published in 1969) and thought it was absolutely brilliant, like all Antonia Fraser's books it is very well researched and well written. I found it really hard to put down and finished it in just over a day!
A few things really stood out for me in the book. One of them was the way that Mary showed tolerance towards Protestants in Scotland. She was prepared to allow them to practice their faith and this was unusual at the time. In neighbouring England, and in other countries throughout Europe, having different beliefs from the sovereign wasn't a good thing at all and often led to persecution and death. This was the norm in the sixteenth century and it is sad in a way that we can look back and see someone who showed tolerance as being exceptional in their time. 
In the first chapter of the book Fraser talks about how Mary of Guise's mother wrote to her advising her to wash her hair once a month as greasy hair caused colds! It shows how much times have changed. Hygiene must have been very different in those days.I remember being on a walking tour of Bath a few years ago and being told by our guide that the ladies who went to Bath for the season wouldn't have washed their hair while they were there, and as their hairstyles were quite large (think Marie Antoinette) mice and the like would often find their way in. I think it's just another example (like the religious intolerance) of how different the world was back then. It makes me wonder if in four hundred years time people will look back and see us as doing things which are just as incomprehensible to them as burning people at the stake is to us.
As I finished reading the book, I had an overwhelming impression that the execution of Mary Queen of Scots was completely pointless. In the short term, it might have made Elizabeth I feel more secure, but what about long-term? Just over sixteen years after Mary's death, Elizabeth died childless and the throne went to Mary's son, James VI, who then became James I of England. The Tudor dynasty ended with Elizabeth, whereas Mary has been the ancestor of every English monarch since 1603. Her famous motto 'In my end is my beginning' turned out to be quite apt.