The historian and scholar George Buchanan was a Latin court poet to Mary, Queen of Scots and tutor to her son, James VI. A native of Stirlingshire, Buchanan was educated in Paris and at St Andrews.

Charged as a heretic by the Inquisition in 1549, he was imprisoned for two years during which time he worked on a Latin translation of the Psalms of David. After a 10-year spell in France and Italy, he returned to Scotland in 1561, as classical tutor to Queen Mary.

After Darnley's murder he was fiercely opposed to Mary and when appointed as James VI's tutor in 1570, he sought to turn the young boy against his mother. Other important posts held by Buchanan were, Principal of St Leonard's College at St Andrews, Moderator of the Church of Scotland and Keeper of the Privy Seal.