The Freelance History Writer is pleased to welcome author Amy Fleming as a guest. Aimee’s latest book, Tudor Princes and Princesses: The Early Lives of the Children of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York will be released by Pen and Sword on June 20, 2025. She has a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Wales, Bangor, a MA in Early Modern History from the University of York, and has worked in historical attractions and in various roles within the heritage sector for 10+ years. You can find her on her blog here. Also on: Facebook, Substack, Instagram and Threads.
Margaret Tudor was the eldest daughter of Elizabeth of York and Henry Tudor, King Henry VII. She was born a princess of England, and at the age of thirteen left her home to travel north and become Queen of Scotland. However, this simplistic description of Margaret’s life does not always tell the whole story of how important she was throughout her life, and just how much of a legacy she left behind.
Margaret was born on the 28th of November 1489, in London at the Palace of Westminster and her arrival was greeted with huge celebrations. A huge baptism and feast were planned, and the font from Canterbury was brought to London to be used during the ceremony. During the celebrations, the royal family also took the opportunity to grant her older brother, Arthur, the title of Prince of Wales, and this meant that this double celebration was full of extra importance for them all. Margaret, as a second child and a girl, would be expected to make a good marriage to an ally of the crown, and from the day of her birth it seemed clear that Margaret was destined for Scotland.
Before this though, Margaret would receive the very best education a Princess of England could expect. She shared tutors with her younger brother Henry, and was taught by up-and-coming humanists including William Blount, Baron Mountjoy, who had studied on the continent and taught the royal children about classics, languages and mathematics. This was quite different to the education that even her mother had received and, like her brother, would mean Margaret’s preparation for queenship was very thorough indeed.
She was also taught sports, particularly horsemanship and they would be encouraged in pursuits such as archery and hunting, and Margaret had a reputation as a skilled hunter and archer, and on a hunting trip during her progress to Scotland, she impressed the assembled nobles when she shot what was described as ‘a fine buck’.
All of this education was meant to prepare Margaret for queenship. In 1502 her future was formally decided when her father and the king of Scotland, James IV, signed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, and as part of that treaty Margaret would marry the King of Scotland himself. James was 28 when the treaty was signed, Margaret just twelve years old. It was agreed that due to Margaret’s young age she would remain in England for a number of years until she was old enough to travel north to Scotland. A proxy wedding took place to make the match official, and from that moment on Margaret was referred to as ‘Queen of Scotland’, even taking precedence over the siblings at court functions, which displeased her brother Henry immensely.
However, Margaret’s time in England was cut short when, in February 1503, her mother died shortly after giving birth to her youngest sister, Katherine. It became crucial that England and Scotland’s alliance be shored up, and this meant that it was time for Margaret to go to Scotland and make the marriage, and therefore the alliance, complete.
In the summer of 1503, Margaret left London bound for her grandmother’s house, Collyweston. From there she would progress North, through the midlands, Yorkshire, and up to the border, where she would be met by James’s representatives before their marriage in Edinburgh. The whole trip took weeks, and Margaret visited towns and cities along the route, and was greeted my masses of well-wishers. At York, the crowds were so great that it is said that it took her and her party over 2 hours to make the short journey from the Abbot’s palace at St Mary’s to the Minster. If you walk this today it takes no more than 5 minutes. Not only that, the mayor of York was so troubled by the numbers of people following Margaret, both in crowds and also as her entourage, he ordered that a hole be knocked through the city walls to allow them easier access to the city. The wall now bears a plaque referring the ‘Queen Margaret’s Arch’, although the exact location is not known.
When Margaret arrived in Scotland, the reception was equally enthusiastic. Huge crowds swarmed her as she arrived in Edinburgh ahead of her wedding to James, so much so that he himself came to take her from the carriages and pulled her up onto his own horse and they rode together through the streets of the city.
Margaret was a popular queen, and she and James appear to have been happy to rule together. They had 6 six children, although only one survived infancy. He went on to become James V following his father’s death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Margaret was regent for her infant son, before returning to England in 1515 after her remarriage.
Margaret’s adult life was turbulent, and her role in the crises following James IV’s death was pivotal in maintaining peace and the crown for her son. James V kept the throne and when he reached adulthood, married Marie de Guise, a member of the French royal family. Their daughter was Mary, Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI of Scotland would go on to inherit the throne of England from Elizabeth I. It is therefore Margaret’s lineage that still sits on the English and Scottish thrones to this very day, thanks to her tenacity and loyalty to her son, her husband, and her position as Queen of Scotland. Margaret’s early years taught her that her role as Princess, and then as Queen, meant that she was important, but there is no way that she could have know just how crucial to the line of succession she would turn out to be.
