Margaret Tudor

Timeline

1. 1489–1503Palace of Westminster · LondonMargaret was born at the Palace of Westminster on 28 November 1489, eldest daughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York and sister of Henry VIII. She received an excellent education at court, excelling in music and languages. To achieve an Anglo-Scottish political alliance, Henry VII agreed on a marriage contract with King James IV of Scotland as early as 1499, formally betrothed in 1501. In 1503, at only thirteen, Margaret traveled north to Scotland to wed and became Queen of Scots.
2. 1503–1513Edinburgh · EdinburghMargaret and James IV married at Edinburgh on 8 August 1503, and their marriage was generally harmonious. James was devoted to her despite having several illegitimate children. Margaret bore several sons, most of whom died in infancy, only her eldest James (the future James V) surviving in 1512. In 1513 James IV took advantage of the Anglo-French war to invade England, was defeated and killed at the Battle of Flodden, and Margaret became a widow and queen mother overnight.
3. 1513–1524Edinburgh · ScotlandJames IV's will designated Margaret regent for his son James V, but the Scottish nobles stripped her of the regency on the grounds of her remarriage (secretly marrying Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, in 1514), instead installing the French-backed Duke of Albany as regent. Margaret thereafter fled several times to England seeking Henry VIII's protection, returned to Scotland, and was drawn into the factional struggles of the Scottish nobility. Her stance shifted between supporting England and defending her son's rights, and her political position remained turbulent.
4. 1524–1541Methven Castle · PerthshireAfter James V escaped the control of the Earl of Angus in 1528 and began his personal rule, Margaret's influence at the Scottish court gradually declined. She divorced her second husband, the Earl of Angus (1527), and then married Henry Stewart, Lord Methven (c. 1528), her third marriage. Between 1531 and 1540, elderly and frail, she occasionally still served as a channel of communication between England and Scotland. On 18 October 1541 she died of a stroke at Methven Castle in Perthshire, aged fifty-one.