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Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots

Margaret was born on 28 November 1489, in London. She was the oldest daughter of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York. She was named after Margaret Beaufort, her paternal grandmother.


Daughters were, of course, important political assets in a world where diplomacy and marriage were closely linked. So, before Margaret's 6th birthday, Henry VII planned a marriage between his daughter and James IV of Scotland as a way of ending the Scottish king's support for Perkin Warbeck (a pretender to the throne of England). On 24 January 1502, Scotland and England concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, the first peace agreement between the two kingdoms in over 170 years. The marriage treaty was concluded that same day and was viewed as a guarantee of the new peace.

Margaret's marriage was completed by proxy on 25 January 1503 and she was now regarded as Queen of Scots. Later in 1503, Margaret travelled to Scotland; she left Richmond Palace on the 27 June and crossed the border on 1 August 1503, where she met with the Scottish court at Lamberton. On 8 August 1503, Margaret and James IV finally married in person in Holyrood Abbey.

The arrival of the new Queen of Scots was celebrated in a poem by William Dunbar called The Thistle and the Rose:

The merle scho sang, 'Haill, Roiss of most delyt,
Haill, of all flouris quene and soverane,’
The lark scho song, 'Haill, Rois, both reid and quhyt,
Most plesand flour, of michty cullouris twane;’
The nychtingaill song, 'Haill, naturis suffragene,
In bewty, nurtour and every nobilness,
In riche array, renown, and gentilness.'
(merle=blackbird; scho=she; quhyt=white; suffragane=representative)

In another poem called Gladethe, thoue Queyne, Margaret is compared to the pearl as a prize above precious stones: brighter than beryl, more precious than the diamond, more beautiful than a sapphire, lovelier than a green emerald and more splendid than a famous ruby.

Margaret and James had six children, of whom only one survived infancy: the future James V of Scotland.

The Treaty of Perpetual Peace was everything but perpetual and barely survived the death of Henry VII. His successor, Henry VIII, had no time for his father's cautious diplomacy, and was soon heading towards a war with France, Scotland's traditional ally. In 1513, James IV invaded England to honour his commitment to the alliance between Scotland and France, only to meet his death and disaster at the Battle of Flodden. Margaret was now regent for her infant son, James V. She was calm and had some degree of political skill. By July 1514, she managed to reconcile the contending parties (pro-France and pro-England), and Scotland - along with France - concluded peace with England that same month. However, Margaret took a fatal step, allowing good sense and prudence to be overruled by emotion and the personal magnetism of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus.

Margaret and Archibald were secretly married on 6 August 1514. This alienated the nobles and strengthened the pro-France faction. By the terms of James IV's will, Margaret forfeited her position as regent when she remarried. In September, the Privy Council decided that she also forfeited her rights to the supervision of her sons. She defied them and took the princes to Stirling Castle. She later surrendered them to their uncle and new regent, the Duke of Albany, and retired to Edinburgh to await birth to her child by Archibald.
Margaret fled Edinburgh to England, where she was received by Lord Dacre and taken to Harbottle Castle, in Northumberland. There, in early October, she gave birth to Lady Margaret Douglas, the future Countess of Lennox.

Margaret was well received by her brother and, to confirm her status, she was lodged in Scotland Yard, the ancient London residence of the Scottish kings. By this time, Margaret and Archibald's relationship was entering a phase of decline. She discovered that, while she was in England, her husband had been living with Lady Jane Stewart, a former lover. This was bad enough, but what was worse...he had been living on his wife's money!

Margaret remained an Englishwoman in attitude and outlook and, at root, she genuinely desired a better understanding between the land of her birth and her adopted home. And, at that point, necessity demanded an alliance with Albany and the French faction. But no sooner was Albany out of the scene than she set about organising a party of her own. In, 1524, Albany was removed from power in a simple but effective coup d'état. Margaret's son, James was elevated to full kingly powers with his mother as chief councillor.

In March 1527, Pope Clement VII granted Margaret's petition to divorce Archibald. She decided to remarry, this time with Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven on 3 March 1528.

The central aim of Margaret's political life - besides assuring her own survival - was to bring a better understanding between England and Scotland, a position she held though some difficult times.
Meanwhile, her marriage with Henry was failing. He was proving himself even worse than Archibald in his desire both for other women and for his wife's money. She was once again eager for divorce, but the proceedings were frustrated.

Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots died on 18 October 1541, aged 51, at Methven Castle. She was buried at the Carthusian Charterhouse in Perth (demolished during the Reformation in 1559).
Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scots
Daniel Mytens
(1520-1538)


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