What the lords said to Throckmorton was what they (and Cecil) wanted Elizabeth to hear. They several times promised that if Mary would divorce Bothwell, she might be restored to her throne. But this was less a serious proposal than a delaying tactic to appease Elizabeth, who was becoming more and more impatient and threatening to go to war to free Mary from her prison. All along, Morton and his staunchest ally, Lord Lindsay, Bothwell’s challenger, were set on deposing Mary or forcing her to abdicate.
