With the rise in popularity of these historically-themed shows, it always begs the question whether they are historically accurate. “Reign,” it turns out, is filled with historical inaccuracies. One of the more obvious flaws revolves around the royal family line. According to Reign CW, there are multiple characters in the show who were not actual historical figures, including Francis’ illegitimate son, and half-sister known as Clarissa. They also gave Francis a half-brother, Sebastian, who historically did not exist at all, according to Naked History.
Apart from characters who didn’t exist doing things that never happened, there was one event that stood out as possibly the biggest historical inaccuracy in the entire series. Once Mary became the Queen of Scots, she had a tense relationship with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. *Spoiler Alert* The show ends with Mary being beheaded for the crime of murdering her husband. While the Queen of Scots was indeed executed in real life, it was for treason against Elizabeth, not for killing her hubby.
“Reign” appears to be more focused on creating drama to engage audiences, rather than telling the historic reality of what happened to Mary, Queen of Scots.
