Margaret Tudor
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Early years
There is some disagreement about Margaret's exact birthdate, though scholars generally agree that it was between November 28 and November 30 at the Palace of Westminster in London. Henry VII's court was opulent, and he expected his entire family to participate publicly from the time they were old enough to walk. Thus Margaret's daily routine was full of courtly ritual, beginning with her first day on earth, when her birth was ushered in with a morning mass, spiced wine and cakes, and an hour of prayer. Chapman, Hester W., The Thistle and the Rose.Margaret was devoted to her father and took up some of his favorite pursuits, including music and hunting. She is known to have played the lute and clavichord and was a fair archer. She also had her own consort of minstrels, including a bagpiper and fiddler.
Henry was anxious to secure good relations with Scotland. In June 1495 he suggested a match between Margaret and King James IV of Scotland, who was 17 years her senior. The offer was renewed in September 1496. However, it was several years before negotiations were concluded, and the pair were finally betrothed to be married in November 1501. Mackie, J. D., The Earlier Tudors: 1485 - 1558.
Queen consort and regent
Margaret married James IV on August 8, 1503 at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. Her lifelong participation in court life had prepared her for a role as ruler when the chance arose, and when James was killed in 1513 at Flodden Field, she became regent to their infant son James V.
The fractious Scottish clans were difficult to rule under any circumstances. Margaret's actions as regent angered many Scots as she openly believed Scotland should be a part of the English Kingdom, in fact, if not in name, and most of the Highland nobility was opposed to her regency. In 1516, John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany used the nobility's innate distrust of Margaret to gain custody of the infant king and make himself regent. Margaret fled to England with Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, whom she had married in 1514.
Second and third marriages
With Angus, Margaret had a daughter, Margaret Douglas, who became the mother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the husband of Mary Queen of Scots; she was thus the grandmother of both parents of James VI of Scotland. It was not long, however, before Margaret became estranged from Angus.
From 1516 to 1527, Margaret had no contact with her son, save a single recorded visit in 1517, when she was able to return to Scotland during Albany's absence and see her child. He was being virtually held prisoner by the regent. After James V's minority was proclaimed to end in 1524, Albany was driven out by the resurgent Angus, who kept the king confined at Edinburgh Castle.
Margaret finally divorced Angus in 1527, and married Henry Stewart, later Lord Methven. Shortly thereafter, in 1528, the young king escaped from Angus and joined his mother and Methven in England. Margaret and her husband became his chief advisers for a time. However, Margaret's relationship with her son ended in estrangement when he became convinced that her constant urging for him to meet, and ally himself with, her brother Henry VIII was treason against him. James V wanted to be King of Scotland in fact as well as name, and intended it remain a separate country from England. His refusal to allow his mother to divorce Methven further damaged their already fractured relationship.
Margaret’s closeness to her brother Henry – who listened to her as much as he did anyone, which was not a great deal – and her unfailing determination to bring Scotland into a greater England marked her reign as regent, her time as her son’s prime advisor, and her personal politics until she died. Her estrangement from James caused her great personal sorrow, but her loyalty to her brother and her belief in a united Scottish/English realm never allowed a reconciliation.
Legacy
Margaret died of palsy at Methven Castle, in Perthshire and was buried at the Carthusian Abbey of St John in Perth. Her brother's dynasty ended with the childless Elizabeth I, and the line of succession to the English throne was passed through Margaret's heirs. Her great-grandson, James VI of Scotland, became James I of England, thus uniting the crowns of the two countries. The Stuart dynasty would rule until the 18th century. The present queen Elizabeth II is directly descended from Margaret, not her brother.
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