I've been in Edinburgh the last few days. Nice to come back to WOL after a little break. The Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh has a display on Mary Queen of Scots, which, to my surprise, included some of her poetry. More can be found at

http://www.marie-stuart.co.uk/poetry.htm

'Fotheringhay' seems especially poignant, given how Mary's life turned out.

My views are complicated - I'm not either a royalist or republican, but royalty have often been interesting people in demanding situations. If they did write poetry it could be 'different'. Are there any other examples of royalty writing poetry?

An interesting premise for a thread.There are certainly lines written about royalty and also by those close to them: Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Philip Sidney come to mind. As for "about", there are lines attached to Berkeley Castle near the River Severn in Gloucestershire - the venue of the murder of King Edward 11 at the hands of usurpers.
"The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring;
Shrieks of an agonising King".
This unfortunate monarch was killed by a red hot iron where the sun don't shine - one way of avoiding awkward visible signs of foul play in those dark and distant days before CSI - as well as a coded condemnation of
the king's personal predilictions. No doubt there may be poetical words from some of our royals so let us see what emerges from those better informed.

I've just read that Henry V111 wrote something like 30 songs when he wasn't sending folk to the axeman and closing monasteries. And since Will S. wasn't around, that may qualify as the equivalent of poetry in those days. Would you want to argue the point with "Bluff (but who's bluffing?) King Hal"?