David Rizzio
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David Rizzio or David Riccio (c. 1533 – March 9, 1566) was an Italian courtier and the private secretary of Mary I of Scotland. Mary's husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, is said to have been jealous of their friendship, and joined in a conspiracy of Protestant nobles to murder him.
Rizzio had arrived at the Scottish court in 1561, one of the staff of the ambassador from Savoy. He was handsome (see the detail of his portrait, possibly an unfinished miniature), and a good musician. Towards the end of 1564, he became the Queen's secretary for relations with France. Ambitious, seeing himself as all but a Secretary of State, a Roman Catholic, and a foreigner to boot, Rizzio had too much of the Queen's ear, it was felt. Jealousy precipitated his murder in the Queen's presence, in her supper chamber at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He was stabbed an alleged 57 times.
Rizzio's murder was only one incident in the larger campaign by Scottish nobles to contain and control the Queen. However, the fact that he was murdered in Mary's presence, when she was heavily pregnant, made it a particularly shocking event.
Rizzio is buried at Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh.