(Cover image - Queen Margaret by Daniel Mytens)
"I am sore troubled with my Lord of Angus since my last coming into Scotland, and every day more and more, so that we have not been together this half-year… I am so minded that, an I may by law of God and to my honour, to part with him, for I wit well he loves me not, as he shows me daily."
It was October 1518 and Margaret Tudor, Dowager Queen of Scotland and sister to English King Henry VIII, wrote to her infamous brother to vent over her second husband, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. She was testing the waters, thinking about divorcing him which Henry didn’t like at all (ironic, am I right?). To be fair, Margaret had been forced to flee Scotland for England not too long ago, when she was heavily pregnant with their daughter and had just lost her sons’ custody after marrying him just to be abandoned after. Moreover, he rode back to Scotland to protect his properties and avoid becoming a landless traitor, but he also started living in one of his wife’s castles with his long-time lover, Lady Jane of Traquair, with whom he shared a daughter named Lady Janet Douglas. All the while the owner of their home and lawful wife to Archibald was alone and sick in England, mourning her youngest son’s death and taking care of newborn baby Margaret Douglas.
Henry opposed Margaret's divorce because Angus was a key figure against Albany’s French faction at the Scottish court, so Margaret turned to said faction and asked for Albany’s return to Scotland, becoming regent on his behalf. Angus, angered by years of conflict with his wife, spread rumours about Albany and Margaret, stating they were having an affair. This wasn’t the case and it was clear for all after Margaret, helped by Arran and the Hamiltons, took the chance and removed him from James’ regency while he was in France, in 1524, upgrading her son to an adult ruler at the age of twelve. Margaret was formally recognized by Parliament as the chief councillor to the young Scottish King.
By this moment she’d met and started to become entangled with whom would become her last husband later on, Henry Stuart, who at the time she had promoted to senior office, causing a stir with Angus and a group of nobles who sided with him, angered by the many favours doted upon Stuart. Margaret had to accept her husband into the council and he took the chance and ran with it, kidnapping James for about three years and instilling in the young boy a deep hatred towards the Douglas family and the English that would prove to be everlasting.
1527 was a rough year that saw Margaret fighting, claws and all, to get her divorce even after she was forced down from power. Albany, who was in Rome, lent her a hand and by December of that year she was finally freed from Angus and proceeded to marry Henry Stuart in spring of 1528, just mere weeks before her son and King, James V, pulled off a miraculous escape from Angus.
Teenage James would go on to siege and hunt down all of the implicated until her mother’s ex-husband had no other choice but to seek refugee in England, under Henry VIII’s fluffy wings.
With this, Margaret and her husband were back at the top again as the leading advisors to the king and Stuart receiving the title of Lord Methven. The pair would welcome a baby girl named Dorothea who sadly passed away in infancy.
Politically, Margaret kept pushing for a treaty that would see James married off to Mary, Henry VIII’s daughter, which wouldn’t happen even though a peace agreement did take place in 1534 between Scotland and England. It was the Treaty of Berwick, and it was set to live as long as both monarchs lived, though everyone was pretty much sceptical about it.
Margaret was rapidly losing influence over the men in her life: James was more keen to pursue the French and the Auld Alliance than in keeping any relationship with his English uncle (even refusing to name his mother regent when he left Scotland to fetch his bride), her brother took good care of Angus and refused to send her daughter Margaret back to Scotland and her husband turned out to be a cheater like all the other ones.
Unfortunately, her third marriage wouldn’t be a safe haven, becoming a helpless and unstable affair just like her willingness to bring both countries together. Margaret found out that Henry had been having an affair and, just like Archibald, his mistress lived in one of Margaret’s own castles. She wanted another divorce and even said she’d go back to Angus but James didn’t want to hear one word about it, seeing it as an embarrassment for both his mother and himself, and possibly not wanting to have to deal with his first stepfather after the kidnapping.
Thus she anxiously tried to make a run for England once again. Bad luck was on her side and she found herself escorted back to court by Lord Maxwell in a trip that felt like a walk of shame to her. Henry VIII and James V didn’t back her up on the divorce claimings so she had no choice but to go back to Methven.
By 1537 James married for a second time after his first wife’s death. The new bride in town was Marie of Guise and she helped Margaret become somewhat closer to her past role of Queen-Dowager. Woefully, the first two children of the royal couple died in 1541 and James and Marie sought out Margaret in need of comfort. She had gone through the grief of multiple miscarriages and deaths, so one would assume she knew a thing or two about that monumental heartbreak.
There’s only so much a heart can take before completely breaking down. Margaret had lost her brother Arthur, her mother and first husband while being really young. She was made to leave her country for a foreign one being practically a child and had lost all of her kids besides James. Her grandchildren were also dead and her two other marriages resulted in pure chaos and heartache. Her brother couldn’t care any less about her either.
In late 1541, Margaret decided to retire to Methven, probably feeling a bit tired already after so many unfortunate events. In October it was reported that she suffered from palsy and since she didn’t think it would kill her no will was prepared though she did ask James to come see her. James didn’t get there in time and on 18th of October she died, presumably from a stroke, a month before her 52nd birthday.
Margaret left some goods to her only living daughter Margaret, and asked James to be lenient with Angus. She went as far as to ask for his forgiveness for all the things she had done to him.
James had her laid to rest at Carthusian Abbey in Perth.
Henry Stuart proceeded to marry his lover, Janet Stewart, and had four children: Henry, Dorothea, Joan and Margaret.
James and Marie would welcome a little girl named Mary that would be crowned Queen of Scots while being a baby due to James’ untimely death.
But that’s a story for another day.
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