Editing Mary of Guise (section)

==Early life==
Mary was born at [[Bar-le-Duc]], [[Lorraine (province)|Lorraine]], the eldest daughter of [[Claude, Duke of Guise]], head of the [[House of Guise]], and his wife [[Antoinette of Bourbon]],{{sfn|Wellman|2013|p=236}} herself the daughter of [[Francis, Count of Vendome]], and [[Marie de Luxembourg]]. Among her 11 siblings were [[Francis, Duke of Guise]]; [[Claude, Duke of Aumale]]; [[Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine]]; and [[Louis I, Cardinal of Guise]].

When Mary was five, she was godmother to her younger sister Louise. Not long afterward, she joined her grandmother [[Philippa of Guelders]] in the convent of the [[Poor Clares]] at [[Pont-à-Mousson]]. Mary grew to be exceptionally tall by the standards of her time and reached a height of {{convert|5|ft|11|in|m|abbr=off}}. Her mother mentioned that she suffered from bad colds.<ref>[[Marguerite Wood]], ''Balcarres Papers: The French Correspondence of Marie de Lorraine'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 1923), p. 228.</ref> When she was about 14 her uncle [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine]], and aunt [[Renée of Bourbon]] visited her. Impressed by their niece's qualities and stature, they took her away from the convent and prepared her for life at the French court. In 1531, Mary made her first appearance and debut at the wedding of [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] and [[Eleanor of Austria]]. She established a friendship with the king's daughters [[Madeleine of Valois|Madeleine]] (whom she would later succeed as Queen of Scots) and [[Margaret of Valois, Duchess of Berry|Margaret]].