Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland

Margaret Tudor
Margaret Tudor
On 28th November 1489, Elizabeth of York, queen consort of King Henry VII, gave birth to the couple’s second child and eldest daughter at Westminster Palace. The couple named her Margaret after her paternal grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and she was baptised at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster, on 30th November.

Margaret spent her childhood at Sheen and at Eltham Palace, but was sent to Scotland at the age of thirteen to marry James IV following the 1502 Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland. Margaret and James had been married by proxy on 25th January 1503 at Richmond Palace but married in person on 8th August 1503 at Holyrood Abbey.

James IV and Margaret Tudor went on to have six children, including the future James V of Scotland, father of Mary Queen of Scots. James IV died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, a battle between Scotland and Margaret’s brother Henry VIII’s forces. For a time, Margaret acted as Regent and although she had opposition, being the enemy’s sister, she managed to reconcile Scotland and England. Things changed, however, when Margaret secretly married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, a member of the powerful Scottish House of Douglas. When the news got out, Margaret encountered opposition from the nobles and in September 1514 the Privy Council ruled that she had acted against the terms of James IV’s will and could no longer act as Regent. She was replaced by John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, who took custody of her sons, James and Alexander, keeping them at Stirling Castle.

In 1515 a now pregnant Margaret and her husband fled across the border into England and were taken in by Lord Dacre, Warden of the Marches. At Harbottle Castle, Northumberland, on 8th October 1515, Margaret gave birth to a little girl who would become Lady Margaret Douglas, mother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. In December 1515, Margaret learned of the death of her son Alexander, Duke of Ross, which must have been devastating news. There was more bad news to come – her husband, Archibald, abandoned her return to Scotland and make peace with Albany and escape a charge of treason. Margaret didn’t look back; she continued her journey on to London where her brother, Henry VIII, arranged lodgings for her at Scotland Yard in Whitehall.

In July 1516, Albany and Cardinal Wolsey negotiated a treaty of between Scotland and England which made it possible for Margaret to return to Scotland in 1517. There, she found out that her husband had been living with another woman, Lady Jane Stewart, while she had been away in England. Although the couple were, at first, reconciled, Margaret decided that she wanted to divorce her husband. She sought Henry VIII’s help, but he was unwilling to make an enemy of his brother-in-law and did not believe in divorce. Margaret was forced to seek help from Albany, instead, and it was he who convinced Pope Clement VII to grant Margaret’s petition for a divorce, which he did in March 1527.

On 3rd March 1528, Margaret married her third husband, Henry Stewart. Unfortunately, the marriage was not a happy one and Margaret sought a divorce following her husband’s infidelity. This time, she was unsuccessful in her quest for her divorce because her son, King James V, who was now ruling in his own right, did not support it. Margaret was later able to reconcile with her husband and the King created Stewart Lord Methven and gave the couple Methven Castle in Perthshire.

On the 12th June 1538, James V married Mary of Guise by proxy, and when Mary arrived in Scotland she and Margaret became great friends. The couple had three children – two sons and a daughter – but only the daughter, Mary, survived infancy. She, of course, became Mary, Queen of Scots.

Margaret died on the 18th October 1541 at her home, Methven Castle, following a stroke. She was laid to rest at the Carthusian Priory of St John in Perth, which was later destroyed. It was Margaret’s great-grandson, King James VI of Scotland, who became king on the death of Margaret’s niece, Elizabeth I, on 24th March 1603. He united Scotland and England and began a new royal dynasty in England, the House of Stewart, but he had Tudor blood so the Tudor line continued.

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8 thoughts on “Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland”
    1. Interesting, isn’t it, how Henry AND his sisters all decided that they were going to marry as they saw fit, after dealing with arranged marriages.

      Of course, Henry’s “arranged” marriage with Katharine of Aragon might have been something he arranged, since Henry VII and Katharine’s father Ferdinand were arguing so much over her dowry, and Henry VII had Henry renounce the marriage contract, since he had been a minor when he had signed the document.

      Margaret’s marriage to James IV was arranged, and after his death, she first married Douglas, then Stewart. I read, though I would like to see corroboration, that she nicknamed her second husband the “Earl of Anguish” for all the trouble he caused her.

      Mary, of course, married the King of France, then decided, once he had died, that she was going to have Charles Brandon, come hell or high water.

  1. Well, Mary Tudor — Henry VIII’s younger sister — never WANTED to marry the King of France and is depicted in the series “The Tudors” smothering the MUCH older Louis with a pillow in his sleep three or four months into their marriage. Mary did everything she could to convince her brother King Henry to allow her to marry whomever she would if she went ahead with the French marriage (like she ever had a choice), although there is no firm evidence extant today that Henry ever actually agreed to that.

    1. In The Tudors they never mentioned Mary at all, it was Margaret they had down as marrying the King of Portugal and then marrying Brandon, when in fact she was already in Scotland and married to King James, if their going to do a historical series they should get it right I thought it was very annoying and they also had Fitzroy Henrys bastard son dying young when he did in fact get to his teens, also Wolsley killed himself when he didn’t and they had Prince Edward being played by an American and the accent just didn’t sound right, they changed such a lot of things I was surprised Henry himself wasn’t played by a Chinaman.

    2. Actually in the Tudors the two sisters are merged into the character of Margaret and she was married off to the old King of Portugal who she smothers with a pillow, before wedding Brandon on the way home. In reality, yes, Mary didn’t want to marry King Louis of France, but she didn’t kill him. He was already in poor health and died a few months later in January 1515. She then married her true love Brandon.

  2. Why, oh why, do television and films change history as they do?
    I find this annoying especially when the “real” Tudors themselves
    And their lives are so fascinating! The one thing I give them some
    Credit for is perhaps introducing/interesting a new generation of “fans”.
    However that is even a stronger reason for keeping the episodes as accurate
    as possible in addition to entertaining!

  3. Margaret Tudor is my 13th great-grandmother and that what I found in historical documents is more valid than what has been shown in TV and movies . The “real ” Tudors had problems just like everyday life …I t may be entertaining but unfortunately half of the time has been inaccurate as much they were much brutal especially I am also related to William Wallace known as Braveheart …..Mel Gibson’s version of Braveheart was inaccurate. To my 13th great-grandmother ,Margaret Tudor ,Happy Birthday !

    1. So you have Tudor in you. wow that is cool. I would give anything to have some historical bloodline in my family history.

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