Margaret of Denmark

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Margaret of Denmark
Queen consort of Scotland
King James III and Queen Margaret on the 1562 Froman Armorial
King James III and Queen Margaret on the 1562 Froman Armorial
Reign 1469 – 1486
Spouse James III
Issue
James IV
James, Duke of Ross
John, Earl of Mar
Titles and styles
Her Grace The Queen
Princess Margaret of Denmark and Norway
House Oldenburg
Father Christian I of Denmark
Mother Dorothea of Brandenburg
Born 23 June 1456
Denmark
Died 14 July 1486 (aged 30)
Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Burial Cambuskenneth Abbey, Stirlingshire
For the queen consort of Norway, historically known as her namesake, see Margaret I of Denmark. For other Queens Margaret of Denmark, see Queen Margaret of Denmark.

Margaret of Denmark (23 June 1456 – before 14 July 1486) was the daughter of King Christian I of Denmark (1448-1481), Norway (1450-1481), and Sweden (1457-1464), and his wife Dorothea of Brandenburg.

[edit] Life

In July 1469 (at age 13), at Holyrood Abbey, she married James III, King of Scots (1460-88). Her father, King Christian I of Denmark and also of Norway, agreed on a remarkable dowry to her. He however was strained in cash, so the islands of Orkney and Shetland, Norwegian crown possessions, were pledged as security until the dowry was to be paid.

William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness was at that time the Norse Earl of Orkney, who was made in 1473 to exchange his Orkney fief to castle Ravenscraig, so the Scottish throne took the earl's rights in the islands too.

This marriage produced three sons:

She died at Stirling Castle and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey.

[edit] Legacy

Her great-great-grandson James VI of Scotland married another princess of her dynasty, Anne of Denmark. They became ancestors of all the future monarchs of England and Scotland.

When in the 20th century, there was some Orcadian dissatisfaction with the government of the United Kingdom, some Orcadians investigated the terms of Margaret's marriage contract and pleaded to the Kings of Denmark and Norway to pay Margaret's dowry to the British Exchequer so that Orkney and Shetland would return to the government of a Scandinavian nation and not be governed by the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Mary of Guelders
Queen consort of Scotland
1469 - 1486
Succeeded by
Margaret Tudor
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