15/12/2024
Advent calendar day 15- Margaret Tudor, Queen consort of James IV.
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 IV linked the royal houses of England and Scotland, which a century later resulted in the Union of the Crowns. Following the death of James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, Margaret, as queen dowager, was appointed as regent for their son, King James V. A pro-French party took shape among the nobility, urging that she should be replaced by John, Duke of Albany, the closest male relative to the infant king. In seeking allies, Margaret turned to the Douglases, and in 1514 she married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, which alienated other powerful nobles and saw her replaced as regent by Albany. In 1524, Margaret, with the help of the Hamiltons, removed Albany from power in a coup d'état while he was in France, and was recognised by Parliament as regent, then later as chief counsellor to King James V, when he came of age.
Following her divorce from Angus in 1527, Margaret married her third husband, Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven. Through her first and second marriages, Margaret was the grandmother of both Mary, Queen of Scots, and Mary's second husband, Lord Darnley
