Often reviled for her hasty remarriage (and therefore the loss of the regency) the book shows that Margaret was dammed if she did remarry and damned if she didn’t. Her two subsequent marriages were both disastrous personally, but she never gave up. Her son attained the throne in his own right in 1528, largely through his mother’s determination.
Margaret’s story is also one of fierce sibling
rivalry with her younger brother Henry VIII, a series of matrimonial
mishaps, and fighting off an unearned reputation as an over-sexed
whinger fixated by clothes and jewels, Margaret was a complex (not
always likeable) woman who had the true Tudor attributes of
self-expression and a flair for the dramatic. She
knew that you had to look like a queen.
Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of her more famous brother Henry VIII, is the single most important Tudor figure of this era that historians have consistently overlooked. Married at thirteen to the charismatic James IV of Scotland, a man more than twice her age, she would learn the skills of statecraft that would enable her to survive his early death, and to construct a powerful position in her adopted country of Scotland as she dealt with domestic issues as well as navigating international relations with England and France.
Linda's sixth book was published on 20 June 2024.