Elizabeth used this incident to further her own purposes. She now had a way to discredit Mary who, with Darnley's death, was now heir to the English throne. Even after an inquiry concluded without specific findings of fact and no determination of Mary's guilt, Elizabeth still wondered whether her cousin was involved in Darnley's death.
To make matters worse for herself, Mary refused to listen to her advisors who urged her not to marry Bothwell. Instead of tending to affairs of state and raising her son - the future James VI of Scotland - Mary put her heart first. She married Bothwell. She planned to make him king. It was a disastrous move.
Mary's advisors and subjects were outraged. They did not want the murderer Bothwell to sit on the throne of Scotland. On July 24, 1567 Mary was forced to abdicate the crown in favor of her son. Like his mother before him, James became the sovereign of Scotland as a very young child. And, as a further price to avoid war with the Scottish nobility, Mary and Bothwell were forced to separate. They never saw each other again.