She was a born political leader who would spend four years behind bars.
A beautiful and passionate lady who could have become queen.
We now look at the life of Lady Margaret Douglas.
Margaret was born
on the 7th of October, 1515, and almost straight from birth,
there was a feeling that Margaret's life would be anything other than dull.
Her mother was Margaret Tudor, the now dowager Queen of Scots
who had recently lost her husband at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
She would, however, go on to marry Archibald Douglas, the 6th Earl of Angus,
but there was little harmony in the relationship.
Angus had been described as a "young witless fool" by his uncle,
which didn't bode well for the future of the couple.
One slight loss of memory on Angus's part was that he had failed to mention
he was already in a pre-contract to Lady Jane Stewart, a minor blip
but one that would come back to haunt the couple.
To cut a long story short, Margaret's mother left Scotland
and crossed the border into England, where her daughter
Margraet was born at Harbottle Castle in Northumberland.
In 1528 Margarets father was under tremendous
pressure in Scotland, which then forced herself to leave.
Eventually, she would be united with Thomas Wolsey.
Henry VIII had no children, whereas his sister Margaret did,
and this is where our tale now takes an unexpected twist.
At the time, English law did not recognise any claim from Scotland
to the throne, James V being the main instigator of such claims.
However, Margaret Douglas was in line as she was the daughter
of Henry's sister, who was next in line should Henry die.
So Margaret's life would now be on edge; she would be treated
in such a way that could well place her as a future Queen of England.
When Wolsey died in 1530,
Margaret was invited to stay at the Palace of Beaulieu alongside Lady Mary.
You may be wondering how Margaret would have come
to the front of the queue in terms of succession.
Well, she was born just six months apart from Mary.
As things stood, then she just edged out Mary in the race.
Now due to her closeness to the crown, she would remain in England.
And become lifelong friends with the Mary.
At the time both girls were under the supervision
of Margaret Pole, who was a cousin to their maternal grandmother
Elizabeth of York.
Margaret's mother and her brother the King would
shower young Margaret with some gorgeous gifts.
In 1543 her mother gave her a satin gown, as for Henry at Christmas time and over
the next few years would provide money to the value of 6 pounds.
It doesn't sound much however, today's value is close to three thousand,
not a bad present to have!
When Anne Boleyn came to the throne as Henry's
second wife, Margaret would become a part of her household.
Mary by now had been demoted from Princess to Lady.
Margaret enjoyed her new friends especially Mary Shelton and Mary Howard
who would go onto marry Henry Fitzroy the Kings illigitimate son.
Margaret was now 20 years old.
It was while here she would first meet up with Thomas Howard
he was just 4 years older than her, and one of Anne's uncles.
Anne actually thought this union
would bring closer ties to Henry and looked upon it as advantageous.
The problem was not that they had fallen in love;
the most significant danger was that they became engaged,
which didn't go down well with anyone, especially Henry!
At the time, Henry had declared his daughters illegitimate,
and so for Margaret to obtain such a union
without any authorisation was a risky political move to make.
Yet within a year, Queen Anne was dead after being disgraced,
Henry had his marriage annulled which left him with very little options
to his succession.
Both his daughters had been made illigitimate, his son also illigitimate
and all that remained were his sisters children.
This number dropped again on 31 May when Henry Fitzroy died.
Margaret was now very high in the succession table,
when questions were being asked
especially with her developing relationship to a son of a
very powerful nobleman and he being a close contact to a disgraced queen.
Thomas admitted to the King that both he and Margaret were in love,
but it had not been consummated.
The only thing to do for Henry was to have both of them placed in the Tower.
By 18 July 1536, an Act of Attainder was posted through the cell door
to Thomas; his charge was for attempting to impede the succession of the crown.
But the Act went further, stating that no one could marry
into the Kings family without permission from here on in.
Luckily for Thomas, Henry would spare him the chopping block.
As for Margaret, she would break all ties with Thomas and ended the relationship.
However, Thomas was kept locked up in the Tower until his death in 1537.
He never would find out if Henry was to have him executed or released.
Although this dramatic turn of events would cause Margaret some ill health,
she was moved by Henry to Syon Abbey and placed
under house arrest with the supervision of the abbess.
To be eventually released in October 1537.
Although it seems that Henry was more than capable of stopping anything
which could harm his dynasty, it has been suggested that both Margaret
and Thomas were actually very much in love and that the throne as an idea
for Thomas to elevate his position had very little substance behind it.
In 1539 both Margaret and Lady Mary Howard, Duchess of Richmond
would greet Henry's new potential love into his life, Anne of Cleves.
The plan was to join Anne at Greenwich before escorting her to the King.
As we know, this didn't happen as Henry would ride to Rochester
with eager anticipation to see this woman in the flesh
after only seeing an image painted by his court artist Holbein.
Just 12 months on in 1540, Margaret would once again find herself in trouble.
This time, she would have an affair with Sir Charles Howard; this would again stir
Henry into a frenzy as Charles was related to his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
Queen Catherine had done pretty much the same
in handling her household as Anne Boleyn did years before.
She surrounded herself with cousins and so-called friends, including Charles.
The flirtatious couple engaged
with each other, but there were never any plans to marry.
In October 1541, Margaret's mother died.
It was around 15 years since they last set eyes on each other,
although it is likely Margaret still mourned the passing of her mother.
Yet times at court were changing,
and it was now that more immediate concerns were coming to the fore.
Catherine Howard had been arrested on charges of adultery.
Although Margaret was a part of her household, and very likely questioned.
Luckily for Margaret, she was not implicated in
any of the charges and was free to leave the broken household of Catherine
for a much safer domain at Kenninghall, home to the Duke of Norfolk.
Yet it wasn't all plain sailing for Margaret,
and she was warned by Thomas Cranmer that due to her liaisons
with the likes of firstly Lord Thomas, and now again with Charles Howard.
Her indiscretions had been noted,
and that if a 3rd instance arrived, she might not be so lucky.
In 1543, happier days seemed to be coming for Margaret.
On 12 July, she was a witness to the King and his 6th wife,
a marriage to Catherine Parr.
This new Queen was close to the Lady Mary, future Mary I,
and it seems that Margaret was now surrounded
by likeable ladies whom she had encountered and befriended over the years.
The King was content with life for the time being and would now
but to keep himself occupied he began to look into Margaret's
He had a plan to ensure she was remarried, but who?
It's said that plans had been underway for some time to arrange this,
but whether Margaret had any idea as to who this potential man may be is unknown.
Time to step forward Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox,
Henry agreed to a marriage, although he always had the option to call it off.
On 26 June 1544, Henry and Lennox agreed on the union.
Lennox would give up his claim to the Scottish throne and now follow Henry.
It's said that Henry was playing his cards close to his chest
in arranging this marriage.
Quite possibly, the main reason being he wanted no one coming into the family
that may cause a challenge to his crown or, in fact,
that of Edward, his son to Jane Seymour, who was next in line of succession.
Having been a bridesmaid to
two Queens of England Margaret at last would now become the bride.
Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox, who had spent most of his early life
in France, appeared as a great suitor for Margaret.
In 1544 the couple were married on 29 June; they would have eight
children, four boys and four girls, although the girls names are not known.
Just two of the boys lived to become adults.
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Charles Stuart.
After the death of King Henry, Lennox and Margaret now
moved away from court and lived in Yorkshire at Temple Newsam.
By 1548 troubles continued between England and Scotland what came to be known as
the "Rough Wooing" Margaret's father had written to her asking for help,
saying her half brother and other family members had been captured.
Lennox suggested they should have asked for help earlier!
Margaret said pretty much the same to her father when she replied.
When Mary I came to power, Margaret hastily travelled to London, knowing her
long-time friend would welcome her at court.
She would become the Queen's train-bearer at Mary's wedding
to Philip of Spain in July 1554, and she would continue
to serve Mary as her chief lady in waiting.
In 1557 Margarets father died; she almost at once claimed the Earldom
and now signed herself off as Margaret Countess of Lennox and Angus.
Her problem was that although she claimed the Scottish titles, she was in England.
Negotiations never really got going,
and the matter of the lands was never fully resolved.
When Mary I died on 17 November 1558, Margaret would play her role
and become chief mourner at Mary's funeral held in December.
By the time Elizabeth had come to the throne,
Margaret would leave the court again, with Elizabeth
seemingly making it very clear she was not required or wanted.
Margaret would travel back up north to the haven of Temple Newsam.
Times were now changing
under the Elizabethan court; informers and spies were everywhere.
Elizabeth had people checking out the Lennox household, but not to be outdone,
Margaret would also have her own motley crew centred on the court.
It seemed that everyone was spying on everyone else.
Although Scotland was in a state of turmoil, Mary of Lorraine,
who had ruled Scotland as regent from 1554, was now
under pressure to bring Protestantism in as the main religion.
She contacted Lennox and promised him the restoration of his lands,
and his wife Margaret would also gain her Earldom of Angus.
This was very tempting, and certainly a way to get back at Elizabeth,
this could just be the opportunity
to make some giant inroads into the powerful Court in London.
Margaret now believed that she had a chance of succession,
although not by herself but by way of her son.
Elizabeth had always been classed as illegitimate in Margaret's eyes,
and she thought her son should be recognised as the true heir to the throne.
There was only one course of action she could contemplate, an idea
to bring together her son Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots, his first cousin.
This was eventually successful and the union of these two
would almost certainly strengthen both their claims to the English crown.
Elizabeth was struggling
to come to terms with this news,It was now becoming a massive problem.
Both Margaret and her husband were ordered
to England, where they were questioned at length to the claim's legitimacy.
Yet Darnley was still being discussed as a possible successor to Elizabeth.
But Elizabeth held her nerve and would counter any such plans
that she believed to be harmful.
Margaret was once again
placed under arrest and sent to the Tower of London in 1566.
Yet tragedy was never faw away for Margaret.
In 1567 Darnley had been murdered, and although Margaret was
released from her cell.
Unfortunately, the months ahead would be almost unbearable;
although she was reunited with her husband and had claimed the regent's
position in Scotland, he himself was assassinated in 1571.
In 1573 Margaret asked for
permission to leave and return to her old home at Settringham.
Elizabeth knew that both Margaret and Mary, Queen of Scots,
had made up their differences and Margaret was warned about the consequences
if she was to visit Chatsworth, where the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury
were holding Mary.
The countess, who was better known as Bess of Hardwick, had been friends
with Margaret for over thirty years, Yet the warning was not to be taken
lightly as this could be construed as a joint plot.
The following year Elizabeth was once again angered by Margaret's actions.
This time around, she would marry her younger son Charles to Elizabeth
Cavendish. She was the stepdaughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury.
Only one course of action was available to Elizabeth.
For Margaret, this meant another stint in the Tower, yet
the government could not find any cause to bring a charge of treason
other than marriage had taken place without royal consent.
Yet there was no further plot to remove Elizabeth from the throne.
So once again, Margaret was pardoned at some point in 1575.
Just two years later, in 1577, Margaret would suffer
more pain when her youngest son Charles died,
and now she would have to turn her attention
to bringing up his daughter Lady Arbella Stuart.
Margaret was given back her title of Earldom of Lennox, but this meant nothing
now as Mary had no power to put or place anyone into a seat within Scotland.
However, Margaret then pleaded with the Scottish government
to recognise Arbella as Countess of Lennox, but this was refused.
On 7 March 1578, Margaret died.
It was quite possibly all too much her,
she had seen all her children die before herself and her state of mind
by now must have been in torture at her lifes events.
She had lived to a good age of 62 and yet found herself in debt at the end.
Elizabeth gave Margaret a grand funeral at Westminster abbey.
It's said that 100 poor women attended.
Her tomb is colourful where she now lays to rest with her son
Charles in the south aisle of Henry VII's chapel within the abbey.
She was depicted wearing a red fur-lined cloak covering a dress of blue and gold.
Upon each side of her tomb are images of her four sons and four daughters.
Margaret had Royal blood running through her veins,
her mother was a Queen and to some it was thought
she would eventually become a queen herself, not in Scotland but England.
Margaret had a real rollercoaster life, she would defy her uncle, Henry VIII,
and take on illicit affairs yet none of this would stop her
from being a lady in waiting to five of Henry's wives.
It's a miraculous story of a lady who gained strength from a weak position,
her imprisonment had little effect
on her thoughts and her political schemes sent repercussions around the state.
She was a lady treated with the utmost respect in both Scotland and England, yet
the one title she was never going to officially attain was that of princess.