Dr Amy Hayes
Margaret of Denmark was queen of Scotland from her marriage to James III in 1469 until her death in 1486. Unlike her two immediate predecessors, Joan Beaufort and Mary of Guelders, Margaret died before her husband, and therefore leaves fainter trace in terms of political impact on the realm. The relationship between Margaret and James III was curious. Margaret and James had three sons in the first eleven years of marriage, after which the queen lived at a distance from her husband, being based in Stirling with her sons, including the heir to the throne, the future James IV. Meanwhile, James III remained in Edinburgh. In 1488 rebels against James III claimed that the king had had his wife poisoned, yet the year before James had made an attempt to have Margaret canonised. Margaret is often described as ‘pious’ but there is little in the surviving record that suggests sainthood. Norman Macdougall, biographer of both James III and his son, James IV, simply describes Margaret as ‘an enigma’. The truth may simply be that, like many of Scotland’s queens consort, Margaret of Denmark requires closer study.
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