Margaret Tudor

Margaret Tudor (29 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 as the wife of James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. Through her descendants, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the thrones of England and Ireland, culminating in the "Union of the Crowns" under her great-grandson James VI and I in 1603 following the death of her niece Elizabeth I.

Margaret married James IV at the age of 13, in accordance with the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland. Together, they had six children, though only one of them reached adulthood. Margaret's marriage to James linked the royal houses of England and Scotland. Following the death of James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, Margaret, as queen dowager, was appointed as regent for their son James V. A pro-French party took shape among the nobility, urging that the king's closest male relative and third in line to the Scottish throne, John Stewart, Duke of Albany, should replace Margaret as regent. In seeking allies, Margaret turned to the Douglases, and in 1514 she married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, with whom she had one daughter, Margaret Douglas. Margaret's marriage to the Earl of Angus alienated other powerful nobles, and by the terms of her late husband's will, also meant that she could no longer act as regent. Thus, the Duke of Albany took her place as regent. In 1524, Margaret, with the help of the Hamiltons, removed the Duke of Albany from power in a coup d'état while he was in France. She was again recognised by the Parliament of Scotland as regent, then later as chief counsellor to James V when he came of age.

In 1527, Pope Clement VII approved the annulment of Margaret's marriage to the Earl of Angus. The following year, she married Henry Stewart, whom the King created Lord Methven. Through her first and second marriages, Margaret was respectively the grandmother of Mary, Queen of Scots, and of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.