Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby

Margaret was probably born on 31 May 1443, in Bedfordshire. She was the daughter and sole heiress of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and his wife Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe. John Beaufort was a great-grandson of King Edward III through his son, John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford.

At the moment of her birth, Margaret's father was preparing to go to France and lead a military expedition for King Henry VI. The Duke of Somerset negotiated with the King to ensure that in case of his death, the rights to Margaret's wardship and marriage would be granted only to his wife.
Upon Margaret's first birthday, however, the King broke the arrangement and granted the wardship of her extensive lands to William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, although Margaret herself remained in the custody of her mother.

Margaret was married to Suffolk's son, John de la Pole; the wedding may have been held between 28 January and 7 February 1444, when she was perhaps just 1 year old (!). However, there is more evidence to suggest they were married in January 1450, after Suffolk had been arrested and was looking to secure his son's future. Margaret never recognised this marriage.

Three years later, the marriage to John de la Pole was dissolved and Henry VI granted Margaret's wardship to his half-brothers, Jasper and Edmund Tudor. In her will, made in 1472, Margaret refers to Edmund Tudor as her first husband.
Margaret was only 12 years old when she married the 24 year-old Edmund on 1 November 1455. The Wars of the Roses had just broken out; Edmund, a Lancastrian, was taken prisoner by Yorkist forces less than a year later. He died of plague in captivity on 3 November 1456, leaving a 13 year-old widow who was seven months pregnant with their child.

Taken into the care of Jasper Tudor at Pembroke Castle, Margaret gave birth to her only child, Henry Tudor, on 28 January 1457. The birth was particularly difficult; at one point, both Margaret and her baby were close to death due to her young age and small size. She never gave birth again.
Margaret and baby Henry remained in Pembroke Castle until the York triumphs of 1461 saw the castle pass to Lord Herbert of Raglan. From the age of 2, Henry lived with his father's family in Wales, and from the age of 14 he lived in exile in France. During this period, the relationship between mother and son was sustained by letters and a few visits.

On 3 January 1458, the teenaged Margaret married Sir Henry Stafford. She enjoyed a fairly long and harmonious relationship with Stafford and they were given Woking Palace, where Margaret sometimes retreated.
In 1471, Sir Henry Stafford died of wounds suffered at the Battle of Barnet, fighting for the Yorkists. At the age of 28, Margaret was a widow again.

In June 1472, Margaret married again, this time to Thomas Stanley, the Lord High Constable. The marriage was one of convenience: it allowed Margaret to return to the court of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. The Queen even chose Margaret to be godmother to one of her daughters.

Following Edward IV's death and the seizure of the throne by Richard III, Margaret was soon back at court serving the new Queen, Anne Neville, and even carried her train at the coronation. Nevertheless, Richard passed an Act of Parliament stripping Margaret of all her titles and estates, although he stopped short of a full humiliation by having her property transferred to her husband.
While serving the new King and Queen, Margaret was secretly plotting with Elizabeth Woodville and was almost certainly involved in Buckingham's rebellion. As Elizabeth's sons (the Princes in the Tower) were presumed murdered, it was agreed that Margaret's son Henry would be betrothed to Elizabeth and Edward's oldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, thus creating a marriage alliance with potential to attract both Yorkists and Lancastrians.

Thomas Stanley, despite having fought for Richard III in the past, did not respond when summoned to fight at the Battle of Bosworth Field, in 1485. After the battle, it was Stanley who placed the crown on the head of his stepson, now King Henry VII.
Stanley was made Earl of Derby; Margaret was styled Countess of Richmond and Derby and was invested as a Lady Companion of the Order of the Garter in 1488.

During this period, Margaret and the Stanley family endowed the building of chapels in Wales. She was involved with the advances in printing of William Caxton and his successor, Wynkyn de Worde, not only as a patroness but for her own acquisition. Apart from encouraging book production and building her own library, Margaret also involved herself as a translator, mostly of French religious texts.

After her son won the crown at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Margaret was referred to in court as My Lady the King's Mother. As such, she enjoyed legal and social independence which other married women could not. Henry's first parliament recognised her right to hold property independently from her husband; towards the end of his reign, Margaret was also given a special commission to administer justice in the north of England.

As arranged by their mothers, Henry VII and Elizabeth of York married. Margaret was reluctant to accept a lower status than Elizabeth Woodville or even her own daughter-in-law. She wore robes of the same quality as Queen Elizabeth and walked only half a pace behind her.

In 1497, Margaret announced the intention to build a free school for the general public of Wimborne. The school would come to existence after her death in 1509.

Margaret had always signed as M. Richmond. However, in 1499, she changed her signature to Margaret R, perhaps to signify her royal authority (R either standing for regina or Richmond). Furthermore, she also included the Tudor crown and the caption et mater Henrici septimi regis Angliae et Hiberniae (and mother of Henry VII King of England and Ireland).

In 1502, she established the Lady Margaret's Professorship of Divinity at the University of Cambridge (still in existence!). She also endowed a lectureship in divinity at the University of Oxford, that later became known as Lady Margaret's Professorship in Divinity as well (also still in existence!). In 1505, she re-founded and enlarged God's House, Cambridge as Christ's College, Cambridge, with a royal charter from the King. She has been honoured ever since as the Foundress of the College.

The Countess was known for her education and her piety, and her son is said to have been devoted to her. Henry VII died on 21 April 1509, having designated his mother chief executor of his will. She arranged her son's funeral and her grandson's (Henry VIII) coronation. At her son's funeral, she was given precedence over all the other royal women.

The formidable Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby, died on 29 June 1509, the day after her grandson's 18th birthday. She is buried in the Henry VII Chapel of the Westminster Abbey.

Lady Margaret Beaufort

Rowland Lockey

16th century