Mary, Queen of Scots promised to make a parliamentary religious settlement when she returned, as a Catholic, to her newly Protestant realm of Scotland in 1561. She then delayed summoning a parliament until 1563, and the summons, when it came, was engineered by her leading Protestant adviser, the earl of Moray. However, when parliament assembled, Mary outmaneuvered Moray with a series of well-timed concessions, and successfully avoided a Protestant settlement. The whole issue was a crucial one for Mary’s personal reign, and it illustrates her skill in rallying broad support.