Place
The Shore
Quayside harbor where monarchs once disembarked, now lined with waterside restaurants and bars.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to The Shore in Leith, Edinburgh, opens at dawn on 19 August 1561, when an eighteen-year-old widow named Mary, Queen of Scots stepped off a ship onto this quay after twelve years away in France. It follows the omen that shadowed her crossing, a collision that sank one of her escort ships, and the quiet hour she spent waiting at a local shipowner's home before riding on to Holyrood. Listen for the farewell she is said to have murmured to France as its coast slipped away behind her.
This audio guide was created using AI.