Stained glass window in Lerwick town hall showing a representation of Margaret
The sudden death in 1286 of Alexander III – fatally thrown from his horse during a night-time ride along the Fife coast – is usually viewed as the starting-point for the Wars of Independence, the long series of conflicts with England that dominated Scottish history until the mid-14th century at least. But in a more immediate sense, Alexander’s demise also signalled the brief emergence onto the historical stage of surely one of Scotland’s most tragic figures: his granddaughter Margaret, usually known as the ‘maid of Norway’ and arguably Scotland’s first queen regnant.